Ian Gouge

First-time Visions of Earth from Space 2019 Ian Gouge

When people escaped gravity and started to travel in space, astronauts were amazed by the view when they looked back at the Earth. There are many photographs of such individual moments of wonder - and captured alongside these images come anecdotes recording the difficulty the astronauts encountered in trying to describe what they were seeing. This fascinates me. Not just the inevitable challenge with language and expression, but also the compulsion to depict and interpret in the first place.

In a way, Poets face the same struggle. We strive to communicate that which is - and can only be - an intensely personal experience, and in so doing, make it accessible, universal. In attempting to understand something within ourselves, we hope our efforts may bring some element of enlightenment - and delight - to others.