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    My Mother is an Old Elephant
    My Mother is an Old Elephant
    My Mother is an Old Elephant
    Ebook74 pages26 minutes

    My Mother is an Old Elephant

    By Peter Neary-Chaplin

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    About this ebook

    A compelling, beautiful and original first collection of poetry about everything from windswept seascapes, broken relationships and the disillusionments of faith, through to witnessing the declining years of a much-loved mother, and visiting all points in between with zest, depth and humour: these are the psalms of a recovering religionist finding a new way to live with heart and authenticity.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPeter Neary-Chaplin
    Release dateDec 29, 2012
    ISBN9780957446816
    My Mother is an Old Elephant
    Author

    Peter Neary-Chaplin

    Peter Neary-Chaplin is something of a mongrel. At various times throughout a variegated, not to say chequered career, he has been a Cambridge open scholar, warehouseman, cocktail barman, project manager, roadie, copywriter, amateur actor, bus driver, timeshare hawker (fail), publisher, advertising salesman, spiritual counsellor, musician, internet marketer, volunteer hospice chaplain, interfaith minister, worship leader, information developer and IT trainer, pub manager, freelance journalist, husband (fail), kibbutznik and farm labourer, and he remains, in addition to some of these, a proud Dad, a film lover, wine-bibber, initiated man, amateur theologian (fail), free-thinker, wedding and funeral celebrant, author and poet, who takes at face value the biblical example of hanging around with publicans and sinners. He lives in Surrey, England, the last place on earth he ever thought he’d end up, and cheers himself up by digging escape tunnels to Lord only knows where.

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      Book preview

      My Mother is an Old Elephant - Peter Neary-Chaplin

      My Mother is an Old Elephant

      Poems by Peter Neary-Chaplin

      Smashwords Edition

      First published in 2012 by Ministry of Words at Smashwords.com

      http://www.ministryofwords.com

      © Peter Neary-Chaplin 2012

      The right of Peter Neary-Chaplin to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

      ISBN: 978-0-9574468-1-6

      All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.

      This book is available in print at most online retailers.

      Smashwords Edition, License Notes

      This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

      ****

      Contents

      The man the nurses couldn't catch

      10-minute poems

      Keeping the inn at Emmaus

      Under the fig tree

      Panning for gold

      The understudy

      My mother is an old elephant

      Slow revelation

      Bolts of lightning

      Some stringless kite

      The monk’s hair

      Sons and fathers

      Sadhu and the flat rock

      The old man and the yew tree

      Does my foot know it's Monday?

      Unorthodox priest

      Young rage

      Meditate like an oyster

      Bury me under a tree

      First light

      The boatweaver

      Balaam

      Yesterday

      Pieces

      Death needs softer ground

      Prayer closet

      Crossing thresholds

      My left leg

      Answered prayer

      Godspeed with a happy sound

      Woven

      This livelong day

      Healing waters

      Fly fishing

      Secret agent

      Paddy's Gone to Istanbul

      Strange disciple

      Loving this woman

      Beeline

      Sweet peas

      Brighstone Bay, IoW

      Low water

      The field at Ballaghboy

      Navigating

      The contents of my head

      Clay man

      White night

      The ark came to

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