the anxious poet’s podcast

The poem I read at the beginning called Crying For A Vision at Ghost Ranch will be part of a new collection called Where Do Dreams Come From? The poem that Simon reads is A Man Lost By A River by Michael Blumenthal from the anthology, The Rag and Bone Shop of the Heart, edited by Robert Bly, James Hillman, and Michael Meade. The poem Ben reads is one of his own and it is called We Need Artists Today. If you want to know more about the Male Journey - the Men's work we have all been involved in go to https://www.malejourney.org.uk/ With massive thanks to Ben and Simon. Here is Ben's - Poet Facebook Page https://www.facebook.com/BenBurnsPoet/ Here is Simon's Agent's page https://hatchtalent.co.uk/actors/simon-bubb/ 

If you want to know more about Mary Marken and her novel Belfast Song go to https://marymarkenbelfastsong.com/ For more about the Podcast and my work in general go to www.adriangrscott.com     

The two poems are to be published in my next collection - Where Do Dreams Come From. The books mentioned are The Book Of Symbols - Reflections on Archetypal Images - Taschen, Animal Life in Nature, Myth and Dreams - Elizabeth Caspari, Inner Work: Using Dreams & Active Imagination for Personal Growth: Using Dreams and Active Imagination for Personal Growth - Robert A. Johnson, The Penguin Dictionary of Symbols - Alain Gheerbrant. The App is called Temenos Dream www.temenosdream.com The quote from Hebrew Scripture is from Genesis 32:22-31. If you want to share anything with me about this episode you can email me at adrianscott@mac.com 

The poem comes from my collection entitled A Night Sea Journey available by Clicking Here The Poem by Mary Oliver is called Don't Hesitate. Look out for the next full podcast Naming Our Myths Part Two coming soon. 

The Poems I read are available on my Website www.adriangorscott.com you can read all four of them there. The carol Diadem is from Kate Rusby's album 'While Mortals Sleep' Listen on Spotify . Thanks for listening in 2024 and I look forward to more chat in 2025. 

The poems used in this episode are Taking Stock from the Call of the Unwritten - I Am Me And You Are You from Arriving In Magic - Bottle Digging from A Night Sea Journey -  all available to buy at www.adriangrscott.com  This is the first quote used  “I suspected that myth had a meaning which I was sure to miss if I lived outside it in the haze of my own speculations. I was driven to ask myself in all seriousness: “What is the myth you are living?” I found no answer to this question, and had to admit that I was not living with a myth, or even in a myth, but rather in an uncertain cloud of theoretical possibilities which I was beginning to regard with increasing distrust. I did not know that I was living a myth, and even if I had known it, I would not have known what sort of myth was ordering my life without my knowledge. So, in the most natural way, I took it upon myself to get to know “my” myth, and I regarded this as the task of tasks…”  C.G. Jung Here is the second  “Every individual in the world, regardless of cultural background or race, has an indigenous soul struggling to survive in an increasingly hostile environment created by that individual’s mind. A modern person’s body has become a battleground between the rationalist mind — which subscribes to the values of the machine age — and the native soul. This battle is the cause of a great deal of spiritual and physical illness.” Martín Prechtel You can see some of the items mentioned in the podcast on the cover. 

This is a selection of some of the best bits according to how many people downloaded it and the amount of positive feedback they received. They are from, in order, Episode 1, Episode 3, Episode 5, Episode 7, Episode 8, Episode 9, Episode 15 and Episode 19. Thanks again to Philippe Edwards, Patrick Ryan, Helen Mort and Ray Tonge. For more go to www.adriangrscott.com 

The poem quoted in the first half of the podcast  is by Rainer Maria Rilke it is in Rainer Maria Rilke, Rilke's Book of Hours: Love Poems to God - the opening lines are 'You are not surprised at the force of the storm'. Here is list of Adrian's Lessons Learned with the quotes from his poems. Lessons Learnt from my Breakdown Breathing Advice to Myself in Anxiety ‘Breathe slowly into this, Don’t run; stay, You are moored more firmly than you know. There is a constancy in you not your own.’ Talking Anxiety Diary ‘My Jungian therapist said, right at the start, that this breakdown was the best thing that had ever happened to me. I thought it was she that was insane, and I wanted to stop right there and then. I think now, she may have been right.’ Walking Rivelin Valley Vespers ‘By walking this same path, with a slow and monastic doggedness, I behold tonight’s road by low sunlight, all made meaningful and prelude by the merle blue devotion in my collie’s gaze.’ Writing  Writing as Therapy ‘Now here I am, sitting in a round of delivery, speaking lines gleaned from a dark and no-mooned night, when only my pen knew its way.’ Seeing  Afterword to a Traipsing  ‘Laura Page has walked me around the streets camera slung, capturing Sheffield with f-stops and the right shutter-speeds for a city caught in the headlights of forces it is yet to grasp.’ Sharing Writing as Therapy ‘In the morning session I had spared no detail of my breakdown, all the colly-wobbled, jelly-bellied quaking of it all.’ Volunteering We are Bodies ‘We have turned sixty Volunteering, cooking the cafe Good soup, vegan and lentil Aching knees, aching nerves Bruised by the bruising lives we are Bludgeoned into, but brightened By the fellowship of fellow sufferers’ Trusting A Night Sea Journey ‘This is what the mythologists call a night sea journey. I am on a gurney bark sailing through the dark into an uncertain dawn.’ Loving  Birdsong on Long Line ‘A sleek throat sounds against the early dusk a last verse to these long lines of walking, and my heart welcomes this reckless chorus, hopefulness beyond my walk’s ending.’   Thanks to Andy Selman for his wonderful accompaniment to the Birdsong poem - the whole Album Made I Sheffield can be heard on Spotify here Made In Sheffield - Scott & Selman You can buy Adrian's books here www.adriangrscott.com  If you want to Adrian and Andy perform with the band Dusk Over Rivelin on August 15th in Sheffield click here for tickets.  https://www.wegottickets.com/event/623931 Come along it will be a great evening.  And finally Adrian would like to thank all who have listened and made the 9000 downloads and counting. Bless you all.                                   

The poem Writing as Therapy at the beginning is from my collection - A Night Sea Journey available at Buy Here Simon's poems are copyright to him. If you want to hear more about his poetry you can email him here - stjosephwinsford2012@hotmail.co.uk. He is parish Priest at St Joseph’s RC Church, Winsford, Cheshire.  

The poems used in this episode are - Sometimes by David Whyte (in Essentials) - No Such Thing As Right Or Wrong from The Call of the Unwritten - Accompaniment from Arriving In Magic - Christ Before the High Priest from Arriving In Magic - Thomas Wanted To See Nail Marks from A Night Sea Journey. All my books are available at https://adriangrscott.com/product-category/books/ You can view the painting mentioned 'Christ Before the High Priest by Honthorst on the National Gallery Website https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/gerrit-van-honthorst-christ-before-the-high-priest You can purchase the book The Quest of the Holy Grail (Penguin Classics) on Amazon or any good bookshop.     

The main book I reference in this episode is Sabbath by Abraham Joshua Heschel. The artwork for this episode is taken from one of the wood engravings in the book by Ilya Schor. It really speaks to me of the way the workaday world holds us captive and the great promise of cessation and rest that the idea of sabbath offers. The first two poems I read are When Will You Be Ready and This Is All The Life You Have from Arriving in Magic. Purchasable at www.adriangrscott.com . The last one - A Moment In Each Day is from A Sheffield Traipsing that will be available on my website from the 15th of March. This is the day of my Book Launch and if you are in Sheffield and want to join me - it will be at 7pm at the Kelham Island Museum ( more details on my website). To book a ticket click here - https://www.wegottickets.com/event/609358 

The Poems used in this episode are Lara's Surgery from Arriving In Magic and Advice to Myself in Anxiety from A Night Sea Journey available to purchase at Books The Novel Lara reads from is Still Life by Sarah Winman Click Here for More 

The two poems that I shared Francis and the Crib at Greccio and Winter Drive Along The A66 will be available on my substack page The Anxious Poet's Substack The Kate Rusby song is from her album While Mortals Sleep Listen . The Phamie Gow version of Emily Dickinson's poem “Hope” is the thing with feathers can be heard here Listen. The article by Edward Kessler Jewish-Muslim dialogue: feeling the other’s pain can be found in the Tablet - 7th December 2023. The book by Zambia Malik is called We Are Muslim's Please.  Have a happy Christmas and a peaceful New Year. Adrian x 

You can read a version of this Podcast at The Anxious Poet's Substack The Poem - You Stride On, My Son,  Ahead of Us, Up Enchanted Rock is in my book A Night Sea Journey available at www.adriangrscott.com The rest of the poem are on the Substack. The Native American Pipe Music is from R. Carlos Nakai - Canyon Trilogy. 

You can find the poems and photographs in this episode here  Adrian's Substack Page  The book quoted is The Journey of Crazy Horse by Joseph M Marshall. 

Belden C Lane is Professor Emeritus of Theological Studies, American Religion, and History of Spirituality at St Louis University, He is author of Backpacking with the Saints, The Solace of Fierce Landscapes, and Ravished by Beauty. The poem he quotes is by Wendell Berry. It is called Our Real Work - It may be that when we no longer know what to do we have come to our real work, and that when we no longer know which way to go we have come to our real journey. The mind that is not baffled is not employed. The impeded stream is the one that sings. My prom Aravaipa Canyon is as yet unpublished if you want a copy email me at adriangrscott@me.com  The other Poem is Two Beggars and a Wolf in A Night Sea Journey available at www.adriangrscott.com  The Wordsworth Sonnet is XXXII in his collected works - Surprised by Joy.  Deep thanks to Belden for his robust vulnerability and friendship.   

This poem can be found in my first collection of the same name - The Call of the Unwritten. https://adriangrscott.com/product/the-call-of-the-unwritten/

The poems used are 'He sings a song of the younger world' as yet unpublished - Gabriel and There is No Such Thing As Right And Wrong from The Call of the Unwritten - The Lost Eden and The Tremor of Silk from A Night Sea Journey all available at www.adriangrscott.com The two books mentioned are The Call of the Wild by Jack London and Never Leave the Dog Behind by Helen Mort. 

The first poem is The force that through the green fuse drives the flower by Dylan Thomas. The Three Marriages: Reimagining Work, Self and Relationship by David Whyte is the book I referred to in this podcast. The story is from The Lakota Way: Stories and Lessons for Living by Joseph M. Marshall the 3rd from the chapter on humility. The next poem is We Find Each Other written for Patrick and Sarah on their wedding to be found in A Night Sea Journey and finally the poem Blossom can be found in Arriving in Magic both by Adrian. Purchase at www.adriangrscott.com 

The poems used in this podcast are Initiation from Arriving In Magic, You Stride On, My Son, Ahead of Us, Up Enchanted Rock from A Night Sea Journey, Speaking to Steel Workers about Rites of Passage, as yet unpublished, and Thomas Wanted to See Nail Marks from A Night Sea Journey. The piece about my Dad's experiences on the HMS Hermes is from a book called The Hermes Adventure. The final two pieces by Jack London and Henry David Thoreau are from I Am Coyote - Readings from the Wild Edited by Jay Schoenberger. If you want to comment or share your thoughts with me the email is theanxiouspoetspodcast@gmail.com To purchase any of my work go to www.adriangrscott.com