The Rebellious Light of Beauty (The last dandelion of summer)

It is easy to feel overwhelmed by the global events of the last couple of weeks. Following the battering of Storm Babet, this week’s episode offers a space for us to reflect on a world that can be often violent and far from perfect. 

Journal entry:

13th October, Friday

“Battered by the winds of the world
 I stop to watch the free-flight of rooks
 Diving from an oak into the full force
 Of a westerly gale.

Gothic wings outspread,
 They surf the blast
 Hanging on its back
 In a rage of ecstatic life.

I stand alone below
 Looking upwards
 And for a short while
 My feet have left the ground
 And I master the gale.”

Episode Information:

In this episode I read Seán Street’s poem ‘Listening with a spider’ from his 2021 collection The Sound Recordist  published by Maytree Press.

I also read an extract from Melanie Challenger’s (2023) essay: ‘Animals in the room: Why We Can and Should Listen to Other Species’.

I also refer to Thomas Hobbes’ (1651) Leviathan, Tennyson’s (1850) ‘In Memoriam’, and Max Richter’s (2003/2018) album The Blue Notebooks. 

With special thanks to our lock-wheelersfor supporting this podcast.

Allison on the narrowboat Mukka
Derek and Pauline Watts
Anna V.
Sean James Cameron
Orange Cookie
Donna Kelly
Mary Keane.
Tony Rutherford.
Arabella Holzapfel.
Rory with MJ and Kayla.
Narrowboat Precious Jet.
Linda Reynolds Burkins.
Richard Noble.
Carol Ferguson.
Tracie Thomas
Mark and Tricia Stowe
Madeleine Smith

General Details

In the intro and the outro, Saint-Saen's The Swan is performed by Karr and Bernstein (1961) and available on CC at archive.org.

Two-stroke narrowboat engine recorded by 'James2nd' on the River Weaver, Cheshire. Uploaded to Freesound.org on 23rd June 2018. Creative Commons Licence. 

Piano and keyboard interludes composed and performed by Helen Ingram.

All other audio recorded on site. 

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Contact
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For more information about Nighttime on Still Waters

You can find more information and photographs about the podcasts and life aboard the Erica on our website at noswpod.com.