It's a long time since I've wandered along the unpredictable and opinion dividing literary corridors of poetry writing. Today, though, inspired by an absolutely beautiful sonnet written by my brother Ian for our mother's funeral service, I thought I'd once again tentatively revisit the marmite genre I frequently penned around 4-5 years ago. To clarify,... Continue Reading →
Matriarchal Mutterings
This narrative is a continuation of my week long vignettes relating to my recently deceased mum. Bearing the same writing format of part fiction based on fact running throughout each essay, all of these monologues are edited amalgamations of prose previously published on my website strachan.blog . A piece penned on 29th March 2020...... During... Continue Reading →
Maternal Memories – The Prequel Sequel
Collated as tributes to my mum who passed twelve days ago, over the previous few days my daily blogs've been an amalgam of essays written about unreliable memories relating to the matriarch. As highlighted in a prologue to those pieces, these are partly fictional tales based on fact, were the names of the innocent were... Continue Reading →
Maternal Memories – The Prequel
Yesterday my 2,500th blog was written to include partly fictional memories (based on fact) of my recently deceased mother Maggie. These unreliable, tongue-in-cheek recollections embellished with large swathes of silliness to bolster the jocularity of the plot lines. Finding a revisit of these literary vignettes cathartic during this emotionally draining time, I've decided to share... Continue Reading →
Maternal Memories – The Sequel
Earlier today I shared a trio of old blogs in tribute to my recently deceased mother - These partly fictional journals, based on fact, a record of the familial matriarch. Anyhow as I've a wealth of this type of reverential maternal insights, I thought I'd share another trinity of previously penned deferential posts. This piece... Continue Reading →
Maternal Memories
Today's literary offering is the 2,500th blog I've written and published on my website strachan.blog . To celebrate this achievement I enclose a trio of pieces from the scores I've penned about my recently passed mother Maggie during the six years since yours truly started scribbling these journals. The trinity of essays below are partly... Continue Reading →
Spiritual Signs?
Preferring to use established data as a source when making decisions/judgements, I'm a fella who ordinarily embraces scientific reasoning above the spiritual. A mantra which leaves me unsure what to believe regarding what, if anything, the afterlife has in store after we shuffle off this mortal coil. I raise this subject as my uncertainty about... Continue Reading →
Blessed
Sunday 10th October - It's a week since my siblings and me bode the familial matriarch a tearful farewell. At this time last Sunday after mum's passed I was utterly numb. A time existing in a dazed cloud exacerbated by the previous three days of sleep deprivation while being sustained by sandwiches and stolen slices... Continue Reading →
A New Start
Day four of middle-aged orphanhood following my mother's passing on Sunday. The matriarch leaving this vale of tears to join my father, whose own death preceded his beloved wife of 57 years four winters previously. Of course, becoming an orphan in your fifties is nowhere near as stark as in childhood. That being said, despite... Continue Reading →