May 6, 2017

Zoe Eccles

VENICE

May 6, 2017

Zoe Eccles

A beautiful Venice sunrise from the Pont dell'Accademia - with pink water and sky.

rich·ness

ˈriCHnəs/ noun

the state of existing in or containing plentiful quantities of something desirable.

the quality of being pleasingly deep or strong.

awakening in a car park

leaving all my possessions
in the boot
shoes, clothes, tent, pack
hairbrush.

walking half an hour
there and back

cooking lentils and tomatoes
on a camp cooker
bent double
metal spoons
steam on the car windows

echoes

waking at 4 am
waking at 5am
waking at 6am to finally arise
and see the sun greet the day

awakening to freedom
stretch, imagine adventure

nothing to lose

breathing in the fresh air
watching the last star fade

drinking in the pink clouds
buzz at sunrise
on the bridge
over blue waters

fueling up my body
with love, air and
fresh food

absorbing everything
conversations, moments
of a daydream
this is real life
true wealth

We had very little, and yet we had so much.

The gold of every shop window was mine, if only for a moment.
The smell of baking bread was mine,
free to inhale.
The colours of the waters
and of the pink skies
were ours that morning.
As were the songs of the gondeliers
rising on the fresh wind.
We had spent thirty dollars in two days
but were the richest people in all of Venice.

Richness is a state of being.
A way to exist in the world.
It is immersive,
all around us,
always.

Venetian architecture - white stone with baroque decoration.

View from the Pont dell'Accademia in the morning in Venice - soft pastel light and blue water.

A gondola tail and red and yellow bricola poles.

Red seats and small tables ready in the early morning outside St Mark's Basilica.

The façade of St Mark's Basilica - all rose and gold and lions and stars.

Venice at night - the streets are lit up with fairy lights

Me, Zoe, standing in St Mark's Square as the pastel light of morning illuminates the basilica.

The pink stone façade of the Doge's Palace in the Palazzo Ducale.

Gondolas bobbing in the water at sunrise with a view of San Giorgio Maggiore.

Pink lamp by the pink stone pillars of the Doge's Palace in Venice.

Gold glittery carnival mask in the form of St Mark's Basilica.

Blue canals and a small bridge with geranium flowerpots, a black gondola underneath, Venice.

The gondolier of Venice sings as he boats his passengers on blue canals.

Red and white bricola poles on the doorstep of the hotel by the canal.

Washing hanging in the streets of Venice.

Diners think of what to order in a restaurant by the Grand Canal.

Rialto Bridge and blue and green bricoles by the Grand Canal.

A gondolier is singing in the morning sun.

Tables and lanterns are set out by the Grand Canal - with red cloths on them.

Window shopping in Venice - I spy luxurious red slippers gilt with gold.

Glitzy carnival costumes in a window in Venice.

White washing hangs from a line outside an apartment.

The gondolier sings and his breath forms clouds on a cold morning in Venice.

A local's personal boat sits by the canal side under a bridge.

Gondolas sway at sunrise, San Giorgio Maggiore is lit up in the background.

Rialto Bridge is lit up at night and the lights reflect on the water - in black and white.

The sun peeks out over the Grand Canal, view from the Pont dell'Accademia.

May 5, 2017

Zoe Eccles

MADONNA DELLA CORONA

May 5, 2017

Zoe Eccles

Madonna Della Corona, a church by the cliff in Verona.

nested

in the mountain's shoulder

there is a rose gem

A fat, red-breasted robin had come to examine us: two human beings, sitting amongst dead leaves. Un-stirring. The wind could not reach this corner of the world, and the view before us was still and glassy...

Framed by bare boughs, a pink temple of the Madonna was slowly being illuminated in the morning sunshine. Where the light touched the walls, they burnt with white fire.

I relished the stillness,
the deep morning silence
of stone in the courtyard
bone in the cold ground
leafless tree branch
making no sound.

A small red breasted Robin is curious about our doings.

Madonna Della Corona, a pink church in the rock cliffs of Verona.

Pink rock church on a cliff near Verona.

Madonna Della Corona, church on a cliffside in Verona.

December 25, 2016

Zoe Eccles

HEDONISM

December 25, 2016

Zoe Eccles

“I have come into my garden...
I have gathered my myrrh with my spice.
I have eaten my honeycomb and my honey;
I have drunk my wine and my milk.”

— THE SONG OF SONGS

Is it not a product of our Christianised minds, to demonise all that is pleasurable? To instead revere asceticism. Even those of the Buddhist and Zen inclinations would tell us to avoid an attachment to material things. And yet, I assert there is some good in the material aspect of the world, and our pleasures in those things. Carnal desires. The root chakra. The base instinct. These have their origins in the Earth - rooted to all that is Earthly. For, if we are to truly appreciate the miracle of our lives and bodies, we should engage with life around us, putting every ounce of our being into sensing every inch of the world. And what an abundance of beauty and suffering the world is! What a difference a candle makes, or a watermelon. It is a wonder we are able to experience life, and it is wonder we experience when we come openly to life.

Sometimes, I like to force all of my being, all of my existence into only one sense; at other times I let the world wash over me like a symphony.