Out for an early morning walk.

Today's Substack share open.substack.com/pub/juliansu...

"The dread of being stares us in the eye, and in a deadly gush we perceive how the minds are dangling in threads of their own spinning, and that a hell is lurking underneath." — Peter Wessel Zapffe, Essays

Today's Substack share open.substack.com/pub/juliansu...

Today's Substack share open.substack.com/pub/juliansu...

Today's Substack share open.substack.com/pub/juliansu...

Today's Substack share open.substack.com/pub/juliansu...

Out and about.

“Through me you go into a city of weeping; through me you go into eternal pain; through me you go amongst the lost people” ― Dante Alighieri, The Inferno

Today's Substack share open.substack.com/pub/juliansu...

Today's Substack share open.substack.com/pub/juliansu...

Here now thejohnmartynproject.bandcamp.com/album/the-jo...

Out now.

Today's poetry reading -- Anne Sexton open.substack.com/pub/juliansu...

"People often presume that the saying “hope for the best and expect the worst” is pessimistic, but it’s not. It’s simply optimism through the back door. The best you can hope for is the worst." - Eugene Thacker, Infinite Resignation

Today's poetry reading - Charles Bukowski open.substack.com/pub/juliansu...

open.substack.com/pub/juliansu... / today's substack post

Today's poetry reading -- Antonio Machado (from Robert Bly's translation) open.substack.com/pub/juliansu...

A classic by Charles Bukowski -- Bluebird www.roadfolkmag.com/bluebird-by-... [Photo by Abhishek Chadha on Unsplash]

I feel like my body is shutting down; it's that time of the year. And it's not like I'm working flat out but I do need a rest and reset. No more so than millions of people I'm sure.

Today's poetry reading -- a single poem of Bob Kaufman open.substack.com/pub/juliansu...

Today's Substack share open.substack.com/pub/juliansu...

Today's little Substack post open.substack.com/pub/juliansu...

I often find myself lost among an ocean of seeming despair but then I always find a poem (or does it find me?), and as Mother Julian said: “All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well”.

Out and about.

Today's poetry reading -- Rumi (from Coleman Barks' translation(s)) open.substack.com/pub/juliansu...

Here now www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDiL.... One of his best.

I'm deep into the poetry and letters of Wilfred Owen. I'm torn between ecstasy and leaden, grief-soaked tears. www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/wilfre...

So few people read poetry and, yet, whenever I talk to them about its power or share a few verses (e.g. Keats, Mary Oliver), they're always blown away. And, therein, lies its power to reshape and/or mould our ontological and existential purview of the world -- theirs or the wider circumference.

Today's poetry reading -- Robert Bly open.substack.com/pub/juliansu...

Another must for the reading list: www.theguardian.com/books/2025/d...

Today's Substack share open.substack.com/pub/juliansu...

Out with pooches.

Today's poetry reading -- The Hollow Men by T.S.Eliot substack.com/profile/2773...

“That's the problem with drinking, I thought, as I poured myself a drink. If something bad happens you drink in an attempt to forget; if something good happens you drink in order to celebrate; and if nothing happens you drink to make something happen.” ― Charles Bukowski, Women

Here again.

Today's poetry share -- Emily Dickinson open.substack.com/pub/juliansu...

“My whole wretched life swam before my weary eyes, and I realized no matter what you do it's bound to be a waste of time in the end so you might as well go mad.” ― Jack Kerouac, On the Road: The Original Scroll

Out again.

Part poetry, part recitation, part "Die Wise" from Stephen Jenkinson -- Dying, not dying open.substack.com/pub/juliansu...

Have companies given up or abandoned EDI, mindfulness and well-being? It sure seems like it.

I wonder how many law firms have thought of hiring a full-time mentor and not just for junior fee earners, but for everyone, including partners? I've been around the profession a long time and have yet to see it or even hear it discussed.

The last time I was up in the big smoke. I need a trip out early in 2026 to visit a few of the old haunts. To think I first lived there in 1989. It seems such a long time ago.

“Whoever wants music instead of noise, joy instead of pleasure, soul instead of gold, creative work instead of business, passion instead of foolery, finds no home in this trivial world of ours.” ― Hermann Hesse

Out and about.

Today's poetry reading -- William Blake open.substack.com/pub/juliansu...

Out and about.

Today's poetry reading -- Mary Oliver open.substack.com/pub/juliansu...

Today's poetry reading -- Matthew Arnold open.substack.com/pub/juliansu...

“I have drunken deep of joy, And I will taste no other wine tonight.” ― Percy Bysshe Shelley