10 episódios

The shortest of short stories to experience on a busy commute, or while stuck in a waiting room. They are the perfect length to be enjoyed on a coffee break, or with a cup of tea (biscuits are optional, but always recommended). They are stories is to entertain you, and always leave you with something to ponder.

#5MinuteStories Sam Meekings

    • Artes

The shortest of short stories to experience on a busy commute, or while stuck in a waiting room. They are the perfect length to be enjoyed on a coffee break, or with a cup of tea (biscuits are optional, but always recommended). They are stories is to entertain you, and always leave you with something to ponder.

    Bunhill Fields: Poet-in-residence

    Bunhill Fields: Poet-in-residence

    I’ve had a great time this weekend as a poet-in-residence at Bunhill Fields. I’ve met all kinds of people come to explore this wonderful historic site in the centre of London: some who live nearby, others who have travelled from abroad for the Open Garden Squares Weekend; some with an interest in plants, flowers, trees and gardening, others with an interest in Blake, Defoe, and Bunyan, the great and unconventional British writers buried here; some drawn by the long and somewhat macabre history of the nonconformist burial ground, others happy to wander around in the present.
    All of these people helped give me ideas for the poems I worked on over the weekend. I’ve talked to people about the history of Bunhill and the history of poetry, the death (and life) of poetry, and the purpose of poetry today. People have been interested to hear the drafts, and even to make the suggestions about things I should add! Others have been kind enough to share their impressions of the place, their feelings and ideas about the site, and have allowed me to use these in the poems I’ve been creating here. And a fair few people have come right out and asked me: what are you doing here?
    It’s a good question. And I told them that what I’ve been doing is the same as everyone else who comes to explore this garden: looking and listening. Each of the gardens open this weekend is unique, and each has something to offer. In Bunhill Fields, history speaks to us about the present. It says something different to each of us, and sometimes its not clear exactly what it might be saying at all. But each place has stories, and that is what I wanted to discover, explore and share during my time here. The poems I wrote in Bunhill Fields are distillations of the unique things I learned, heard, shared and experienced in this garden.
    It’s no surprise that the poem’s I’ve worked on and (mostly) finished over the weekend have reflected a balance that is intrinsic to this hidden oasis of calm in the middle of a frenetic city: between the past and the present, between the extraordinary and the mundane, between life and death.
     
    Here’s one of those poems that I started yesterday and managed to finish today, about the many people sharing plots beneath the ground in every corner of the park. You can listen to it here:
    https://www.sammeekings.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Roomates-poem.mp3
    Towards the edge of the afternoon, I read the poems created here to some of the people in the park, and that seemed like a great way to end the weekend and the residency: by sharing the experiences and ideas that had been planted and grown in this entrancing place.
    You’ll be able to read some of the poems I worked on during the residency over at the Poetry School website. And if you’ve never been to Bunhill Fields, do pop by if you’re ever nearby to see this small but important piece of our history in the heart of the city.

    #5MinuteStories: Rooster

    #5MinuteStories: Rooster

    What if the dead could return, for just one night? An old Chinese folktale says this is exactly what happens – but not quite as we might expect.
    This week’s #5MinuteStories is about love, loss, and coming home. You can download the podcast or listen below:
    https://www.sammeekings.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Rooster.mp3
     
    Or you can click through the digital story right here:

    #5MinuteStories: Butterfly

    #5MinuteStories: Butterfly

    Have you ever met anyone who has lived two lives?
    Perhaps you’re one of those people, whose life seems split in two. Maybe sometimes you look back and think: I used to be a completely different person.
    This week’s #5MinuteStories is about how a single hour can change the course of a life. It’s about human eclosion and transformation, about the people we become, and the myths that undo us.
    Listen here, or download the podcast for later.
    https://www.sammeekings.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Butterfly.mp3
     
    Enjoy the digital story below:

    Please let me know what you think!

    #5minutestories: Cranes

    #5minutestories: Cranes

    Do you ever get the feeling that there is nothing new in the world? Are we all just doing the same things that have been done many times before?

    This week’s #5minutestories is about how our lives echo across history. It’s about origami prayers, Hong Kong moviestars, and warring emperors, but most of all it is about the overlap between the past and the future.
    You can download the podcast or listen to the audio version here:
    https://www.sammeekings.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Cranes.mp3
     
    Or read the illustrated digital story below:

    Is there anything original left – or has everything already been done before?

    #5minutestories: Ants

    #5minutestories: Ants

    Do you have a head for numbers or do they multiply your problems? This week’s story is about ants, stolen skeletons, the numerical beliefs of Hasidic Jews and the mysterious disappearance of the Neanderthals.

    This is a story about how we try to make sense of the world with numbers, but how they only seem to lead us round in circles.
    As ever, you can download the podcast or listen here:
    https://www.sammeekings.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Ants.mp3
     
    And read the illustrated digital version right here:

    #5MinuteStories: Dodo

    #5MinuteStories: Dodo

    Do you have a self-destruct button? Do you ever find yourself thinking: I’m my own worst enemy?
     
    This #5MinuteStories is one for Lent: about the things we know we shouldn’t do, but end up doing all the same. It’s about the bad habits we can’t kick, the reckless impulses we can’t quit.
    As ever, listen below or download the podcast.
    https://www.sammeekings.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Dodo.mp3
     
    Or read the digital version right here.

     

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