Episode 39 - Birds, Imagination, and the Tyranny of Clocks

We all have times of silence — when momentum slows down, we turn inwards, or we cannot rush and produce. These wintering times, as Katherine May calls them, can allow us to rest and heal, but they can also lead to big changes. Taking times of silence can be one essential tool for restoring our energy and then changing how we are directing that energy: to confront a machine of oppression and extraction; nurture our communities and projects; or rebuild how we want to live. 

Guest Steven Lovatt is a birder, writer, critic, parent, and teacher based in South Wales. He authored Birdsong in a Time of Silence, detailing the life of his young family through the beginning of the Covid pandemic, when he once again noticed the sound of birdsong. He wrote, “Finally, the earth could hear itself think, and the voice of its thought was song.” Like many of us, Steven paid more attention to nature and in his case, turned to birdwatching, rekindling a childhood love, as well as the awareness of the birds who are no longer here. 

This conversation ranges from poetry to parenting, and asks about that which is endangered in our society beyond birds. We dig deep into the roots of being human, and talk about imagination - one of those fruits that comes from times of silence.