Mythic Writers Blog

I’m back, earlier than planned since something beautiful caught my eye today. I’m hoping I’m a bit more organized and on target this week. Last week just got away from me, and I couldn’t get the time back under control. This week looks to be better, though.

I have to say upfront that this post is a bit of a placeholder. It’s an idea that came to me as I read a newsletter, and I wanted to write a bit about it to remind myself that I’d like to go a bit more in depth with it at some point. Now, with that caveat, on to the post.

Some turns of phrase just leave me weak in the knees. Like this Sir John Betjeman quote from his poem “Cornish Cliffs” in today’s Today in Literature newsletter: “And in the shadowless, unclouded glare Deep blue above us fades to whiteness where A misty sea-line meets the wash of air….”

Does this make anyone else’s heart twinge with that melancholy flutter of homesickness for someplace you’ve never been? Some turns of phrase can just melt me that way, fill me with joy and sadness and longing all at once and leave me wanting more (and I can’t wait, now, to read more of Betjeman’s poems).

I think this is one of the major attractions of mythic fiction for me. So much of what it touches leaves me weak in the knees and all aflutter. So much of it lets me just briefly, softly brush against things I long for, things I can’t even quite articulate most of the time. They bring me to the edge of Grace and Beauty and possibly Truth.

That’s really what I wanted to say today. In future, I hope to gather a collection of phrases that stir me this way and share them here with you. But for now, I’ll leave you with that quote. And a wish that Grace will touch you and give you that longing that will keep you reaching for more. And a hope that we will all reach out together and touch more of the Beauty out there and maybe bring some of it home with us to share.