Word Weaver, Nettle Eater
About
Tom Hirons is perhaps most famous for his amazing poem, Sometimes A Wild God, which you can hear pieces of in the episode. He is a fantastic poet, writer & storyteller. In addition to that, Tom is also an acupuncturist, leather worker, former mask maker (though he comically forgets that in the interview), wilderness fasting guide and father of two little boys. When I conducted the interview in March of 2021, Tom was living & performing with the equally brilliant Rima Staines (visual artist extraordinaire, blogger, accordion player, unusual clock-maker, puppeteer & many, many other magical things). Together, they created Hedgespoken, a traveling, off-grid storytelling theatre, run from the back of a 1966 Bedford RL lorry, converted into a home + mobile stage. To listen to some of the amazing stories they produced this year, check out the Hedgespoken Picturehouse.
At this time, Tom continues to publish his fantastic work through Hedgespoken Press & his own website, as well as regularly hosting the Feral Angels Poetry Café session, a regular series of poetry & writing workshops, which I myself occasionally attend. (They are fantastic & I have consequently been writing more in the last month than I think I have in the last decade). He is also available for private coaching sessions, as a mentor, guide and editor. This May, he will be leading the Mead of Poetry Wilderness Vigil, a 4-day fasting retreat in the Dartmoor wilderness, and in August, he will be hosting the Feral Angels Poetry Camp, a week-long camping & poetry session in Ceredigion, West Wales.
MUSIC
Our theme song is Grannen’s Bastu, arranged and performed by Varelse.
Arabic Prayer by Serge Quadrado (used courtesy of the Free Music Archive).