Local Order member Aryamati has won a poetry prize in the Didsbury Arts Festival
Her poem is in two parts and was inspired by a garden exhibition at Manchester Art Gallery
Painting gardens
Gertrude Jekyll
Pole-axed by weak sight
you turned from Turner to gardens;
enthralled by his whites, his touches of red
you poured them into English borders;
banking marigolds beside lavender,
startling delphiniums
with folk foxgloves;
weekend gardeners
became painters.
Jarman said it with flowers
to Dungeness Powerstation
By the concrete hulk,
the nuclear powderkeg,
chrysanthemums mourning
flagrant scarlet-orange
poppies crumpling;
bulwarks of huge daisies
lavender’s blue-mauve
dilly-dilly — on withered sedge;
thyme passes unloved sand-dunes,
wild flowers crown rusting crosses.
Zen stones
final filming.
Cut.
Aryamati adds …
l’d like to give thanks to Bhante, for encouraging us to develop our imaginations through the arts. Only when l came to Manchester as a mitra did l begin writing poetry; my gratitude to him for opening a new awareness — and to Ananda and Manjusvara for Wolf at the Door and their friendship. And to Vishvantara for her love and support.
Wolf at the Door in Manchester
Aryamati’s inspiring friends Ananda and Manjusvara will be in Manchester for the weekend in November. On Friday 26th November there will be a free event of readings and discussion, open to all, followed by a creative writing weekend workshop — no previous experience necessary
