A writing collaboration and adventure by Harry Swordy and Tom Burgess.
This in an incredibly important piece to me. It captures a
last minute trip with a close friend to Norway, on it we would pause on a
street corner, a pub or mountainside, passing a notebook freely between each
other to continue the narrative in a melding of minds. Tragically less than a
year later Harry had died rendering it even more meaningful to me, a treasured
moment, a time capsule. Harry was responsible for encouraging me in
my writing, helping me trust it was a worthwhile adventure to be on. He himself
was committed to mastering the art of oral storytelling, I am sad I didn’t
find out what stories would have spoken to him on this journey, the library he
would have assembled in his mind or hear the ones that flowed from his own wonderful
imaginative wisdom. I dedicated my first poetry collection, Paint Yourself to him for
this reason.
