Sophia – Sophia Nugent

There is a burning in the garden…

There is a burning in the garden… Two of Sophia’s poems were printed in the journal of creative and spiritual exploration, Jesus the Imagination, published by the US Center for Sophiological Studies, Angelico Press (Vol Vl: MMXXll, pp 92-93). Sophiology is premised on the idea of divine wisdom. Usually conceptualised in female terms, divine wisdom has links to the concept in Jewish mysticism of the Shekhinah or dwelling place. In a sense, to search for wisdom is

July 19th, 2023|Tags: Burning in the Gardens. Veracious Science, Chekhov, Keats, Sophia, Sophiology, Wallace Stevens, Wisdom|2 Comments

The Lovely Haunting

The Lovely Haunting Last year some of Sophia’s poems from Rough Sleepers, the collection written in her last year of life, were submitted to two journals—two very different types of journals, with very different readerships (chosen quite deliberately). Both accepted her poems. As the work has now been published and the journals distributed, Sophia’s poems can also be placed here, on Lexicon. A sequence of three poems, The Torments, has been published in one of

June 23rd, 2023|Tags: Shearsman, Sophia, The power of Beauty, The Torments|6 Comments

Seeing, Being…

Seeing, Being… Like Alice’s bluebell, though not surprised into view, Sophia’s soul is visible in this photograph. Seeing and being… Sophia thought a great deal about being. In Rough Sleepers, her last collection, the nature of human consciousness—what it is to be a thinking, sensate yet spiritual being—is a central theme. One of the poems from a longer sequence, A Hot Summer, written in response to the death of her father (a year after his

April 27th, 2023|Tags: A Hot Summer, Being & Seeing, Sophia, Twilight|Comments Off

Lessons of History

Lessons of History An unlooked-for benefit of moving house was in being able to meet Sophia at all stages of her life: infant, toddler, child, adolescent, young woman, there she was in a host of small and memorable items. One of them is a poem, Cassandra, which was written when she was 12, and for which she won a national competition run by Amnesty International. It reflects her love of history and her growing knowledge of

March 1st, 2023|Tags: Cassandra, history, Homer, Lessons, Sophia, War|4 Comments

Always…

Always... Sophia 30.07.1991—17.01.2014 There is a song Which is not voice There is an absence Which is not empty When I cup my

January 17th, 2023|Tags: always, January 17th, Only light, Sophia|4 Comments

Reaching into Silence

Reaching into Silence “Words,” says T.S. Eliot in Four Quartets, “after speech, reach/ Into the silence.” No matter how imperfect, how incomplete or broken are the tools we use to get there (as Eliot states: “Words strain/ Crack and sometimes break, under the burden”), the dance between time and stillness is where we find ourselves. Words reach into the silence, into the stillness. Searching, failing, searching again. Yes, Sophia understood this. It was central to

March 1st, 2022|Tags: beauty, brokenness, silence, Sophia, suffering, Time, TS Eliot|4 Comments

Eight Roses

Eight Roses There were eight roses in the bouquet upon Sophia’s tomb today, eight lovely, ivory-white roses. Eight years ago today, Sophia died. She had thought about her death. In her usual clear-eyed way, she had considered the possibility of it. I know what she thought. I know too what Sophia would wish to say to us about it. She has signposted the way. In a note I found amongst her papers, Sophia specified the

January 17th, 2022|Tags: Eight roses, January 17, Light, Sophia, Substance of Dreams, Tolstoy|8 Comments

Sophia’s Poem: Self-Portrait as a Reflection

Sophia’s Poem: Self-Portrait as a Reflection In lips over a waterfall, Nathan observes that: “only the photographs were left to take the difficult questions”. Since Sophia’s death, I have asked quite a few of those difficult questions. In some strange but powerful way, however, it is Sophia herself who always answers them. A few months before she died, Sophia wrote the following poem. In it, she is confronting the thought of her own death (so

November 10th, 2021|Tags: Self-Portrait, Sophia, Stars|2 Comments

Nathan Shepherdson: The Artist’s Order

Nathan Shepherdson: lips over a waterfall Nathan’s poem for Sophia’s Notebook, lips over a waterfall, has now been printed, packed and sent off in precious postal packs worldwide. What a labour of love this has been! It has involved quite a journey across these Covid-haunted years to bring this beautiful thing into the world. Nathan has written a delicate, intricate and subtle series of 22 poems (one for each year of Sophia’s life)—22 densely packed,

November 10th, 2021|Tags: Gordon Shepherdson, Last Moon, lips over a waterfall, Nathan Shepherdson, Sophia|Comments Off

Poem by Sophia for Gershon

Poem by Sophia for Gershon... I have been visited by owls lately (sometimes beside the road, sometimes flying overhead or in front of me, once sitting quietly on the roof spine, head cocked to one side, watching me). People in the ancient world would have seen these as visitations (and perhaps they are!), so it seems only fitting that, as Gershon wrote a poem for Sophia, her poem dedicated to him (written when she was

June 23rd, 2021|Tags: Apotheosis as an Owl, gershon Maller, Sophia, Visitations|Comments Off