Memoirs

Introduction

 

This project originated from a few journal entries written from America out of my acute nostalgia for England and a carefree childhood of rambling through fields and woods. Over the years, I expressed this nostalgia by painting English landscapes, writing poetry, children’s novels and stories, and finally compiling these lyrical memoirs, garnished with some fantasy.
 

I was not planning to publish actual childhood accounts, but during my attendance at San Miguel Poetry Week last January (2020), a workshop organized by Jennifer Clement and Barbara Sibley, I presented three childhood poems.  My fellow-poets received them with great enthusiasm and insisted that such ‘pastoral visitations’ were irresistible, and greatly needed today in our world of turmoil. Most of them agreed that they felt captivated by the heart and mind of this child of Kent, and didn’t want to leave her world.  Why, therefore, they asked, would I not put together a small book of these memories?

Many who have found themselves at the gates of death, but then recovered, have described how they were swept back for a while into their worlds of childhood.  Other elderly people, whose “adult” memories have become dim, retain vivid snippets of childhood memories, almost as if time has collapsed into their early years. This makes sense, because like everything living and breathing in nature, we grow up from our roots, out of the soil, so to speak, whether this “foundation” of our development comes from the green fields of Kent, or from the concrete slabs of a street in New York.  In my case, the abrupt move from England to Alabama in my twenties when I got married, was one of the most painful and difficult periods of my life, revealing to me how deeply rooted I had been in the “soil” of Kent. 
 

But I have not wanted just to ‘record’ my childhood experiences.  I have actually wished to discover, through writing, where my thoughts and feelings were as a child.  I was dreamy, vague, and fidgety, to the point of being an irritation to my three older sisters, and to the nuns at school, who were continually having to retrieve something I had left behind or push me into an instructed direction when I was absent-mindedly going the wrong way. I was literally “somewhere else” most of the time because my imagination entertained me far more than current happenings and conversations.  I was in love with the sounds of leaves, with birdsong, which later grew into my love of music and the piano. I was immersed in nature’s colour and movement – the way a tree moved outside the window, a flower grew up out of the grass, or why a robin, in a flash of red, chose to fly from that branch to the top of that ladder – for no particular reason since there were no grubs or crumbs there.  I suppose I lived more in the heads of all that moved and grew outside, than in my own head.  And when, much later, I began reading Wordsworth, I realized I had been living the “visionary gleam,” but where did it go?  I wanted to recapture that gleam.

Most of the writings that follow are in some form of verse or ‘poetic prose,’ but there are also a few passages in straight-forward prose because I found it impossible to put those accounts into poetry. You will also find that most of the early poems recapturing my existence as a very young child, are in simple, naive language because I am re-entering that child’s head, rather than remaining outside it, in an adult recollection. 
 

Christina M. Pagés

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Review from Pikasho Deka for Readers Favorite

Review Rating: 5 Stars

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"Childhood memories of where we grew up remain etched in our hearts even in adulthood. In this illuminating poetic memoir, Christina M. Pages invites readers on a journey into her childhood, growing up with three sisters in the lush green countryside of Kent, England, during the 1940s and 50s. Pastoral Memories of a Child of Kent features mesmerizing poetry, prose, and artwork. These pieces reflect Christina's childhood in her birthplace of Oakbourne, surrounded by nature and wildlife. Through captivating poetry and prose, the author shares memories of her mother's influence on her early life, trips to Ireland, adventures with her sisters, her aunt's eccentricities, her first crush, her family history, and her feelings after moving to Alabama in her twenties.

Filled with charm, heart, and nostalgia, Pastoral Memories of a Child of Kent is an absorbing collection of poems and prose. Christina M. Pages' poetry showcases the impact our surroundings have on our psyche as children and how the places we grew up in shape our lives long after we've reached adulthood. Using free verse, the author paints a vivid portrait of her childhood in Kent and, later, her life as a young woman trying to acclimate to a land far away. The book also features some beautiful paintings, mostly scenic images depicting nature in all its glory, as well as photographs taken in a different time and era. If you're a nature lover, this collection is a must-read. I thoroughly enjoyed the book and heartily recommend it to anyone who loves engaging poetry and art."