Being Next in Divinity to the Saint, by Gill Horitz

Sir Francis and the Birds, by Stanley Spencer (England) 1935

Being Next in Divinity to the Saint

Stanley placed them on the roof,
cluttered against the red tiles
though they were almost too many
to fit the view of life he longed for:
two women, a father, saint,
the boy he once was,
hens and geese, all crowded in
to be fed, to be painted,
all that he recalled, the waft
from the open dressing gown,
Patricia positioned high on the parapet,
Hilda overpainted with a saint,
each picture hot in the midday sun
and never the question either/or
as he fleshed them out,
but how best to say all that life is.

Gill Horitz

Gill Horitz lives in Dorset, UK and has worked in the Arts for many years with different groups and communities, and with a particular interest in developing new tellings of stories, using archives, theatre and sense of place. She co-founded Wimborne Community Theatre in 1991, which collaborates with professional artists and theatre-makers to develop local stories in the landscape and non-theatre spaces.

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