Windsong – The Breath of Being: A Novel (Introduction)

“Time was when every epic had its tempest: winds

were the divinities of the Mediterranean.”

Predrag Matvejevic

Mediterranean. A Cultural Landscape.

“When lovers moan,

They’re telling our story.

Like this.

I am a sky where spirits live.

Stare into this deepening blue,

While the breeze says a secret.

Like this.”

Jelaluddin Rumi

Like This

(Tr.: Coleman Barks)

There is an opportunity, sometimes, when a writer retains the full copyright of his or her work, to revisit, to amend, to perhaps even republish. Walt Whitman was forever editing and adjusting Leaves of Grass until the point was reached where he felt he could do no more. Windsong – The Breath of Being, my fourth book, was first published by the Wynkin deWorde imprint in 2004 (ISBN: 1-904893-03-1) and although no longer available in print it retains a web life, albeit a precarious one, on Google Books. From the moment it was published I felt it could have been so much better, and the sense of a lost opportunity predominated. I have decided to revisit the book to try and edit a new version specifically for this blog …to see where that takes it and I will endeavour to release a chapter at least once a month. Comments from interested readers are welcome and I hope to reply to all.

I have outlined the chapter headings below and over time will add the blog date.

CHAPTER DATE

Being The Beginning Sunday January 23, 2011

Mistral

1 The Exchange Sunday January 30, 2011
2 bildende Kraft
3 Gossamer Wings
4 Nemesis
5 Odd Shoes
6 al-Rûh
7 A Love Supreme
8 The Three Cornered Light
9 Serendipity
10 The Watchman
11 The Upright Way
12 Angels
13 The Cave of Montesinos

Meltimi

14 Idols
15 Nightingale
16 The Perfect Square
17 Haunting
18 The Uncontainable
19 The Ear of Malchus
20 Mauvais Pas
21 Sinan Qua Non
22 Spirit-Level

Sirocco

23 Witness
24 Alcibiades
25 Ney
26 Birdsong
27 The Vanishing Point
28 The Cat Walks
29 The Approximate Likeness of Being

Becalming Unscientific Postscript