Sunday, 18 March 2012

Malcom Bradley - A Pleasant Encounter

Malcom Bradley - photo by Nigel A JAMES

In Other’s Shoes!


Just ten days ago, I had the great pleasure of meeting the English poet and author Malcom Bradley who is now living in Austria. And his work is really quite special. He has the unique gift of being able to assume the identity of characters from history and write from their perspectives. And, one of those whose eyes he has written through is Charles Darwin.

Charles to Emma
By Malcom Bradley

A letter which Darwin wrote to his future wife, Emma.


My Dear Emma,

The house is almost ready;
everything in place except
a few drawers of shells.
The garden, you will agree,
is worth its weight in gold.

I often wonder why solitude
suites me: on my voyage
all pleasure came from thought –
in desert, forest, or at night
pacing the deck of the Beagle.

You may humanise me yet –
even in this ferocious passion
for accumulating facts,
analysing, theorising,
leaving me completely

without boundaries.

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Maggy Steiner

  Maggy Steiner had a wonderful childhood.  She went to school in Vienna, and spent her summers with her uncle and aunt and her two cousins ...