I cannot tell you how I came across the poetry and prose of Tom Hirons. Perhaps the Wild God he writes of led me there those years ago. But once I laid eyes on the words that came through him — because he himself thought they were a remembrance from elsewhere — I’ve been held captive, wanting more. This writer knows how to reach in and shake any dormant aspect of us from sleep. He writes not to the archetype, but the actual Hero we all carry at the core. This isn’t a fairy tale, and Hirons doesn’t deny the messy doings in bringing the Wild God-Hero to full light. In the process, he ushers us into the Dark Unknown where fear raises its hackles in all kinds of unimagined ways. Still, the Wild God will not deny us.
I dare you to listen to Sometimes a Wild God narrated by the poet himself. Then read the words. How can you not be shaken to the core?
Now Tom Hirons has just released Nettle-Eater in which he speaks to us directly, garnering our attention in the first several lines.
You know the call.
All your books speak of it.
If I differ from you, it is only in this: When the call came, I heeded it. What the call commanded, I fulfilled.
The call said:
Go to the moor.
Live wild there.
Eat only nettles for one year.
This is what I did.
Then he proceeds to disclose the Dark Night, the footfalls and not-of-mind ramblings of the initiatory journey, and emergence of the soul. As a prophet once said, this is for those with ears to hear, eyes to see. Spend time with the nettle-eater. You’ll find all the unknowable secrets revealed. At the end, he presents The Invitation.
And you, sitting there?
Do you know these things?
Look at that world beyond your door.
Your life is on fire.
Run!
Dive in, though it surely means death. Taste the streams, the heather and the gorse and the broom. Hold the river stones. Sleep with the waterfall as your pillow. Braid yourself to the horse’s mane. Sing the great lament of your own lost life.
In time, scar yourself with fire and stone. Immerse yourself in such immovable darkness that the lightning cracks you in two.
You were never more lost than you are now, if you cannot reach out, touch the wild earth and weep.
Run!
It is not yet too late, but soon it will be.
Run!
Do not sit there, wondering.
I have told you the truth.
The author generously offers Nettle-Eater for you to freely read in its entirety. You can also go to the Hedgespoken Shop to purchase a signed, limited edition chapbook to hold in your hands. Sometimes a Wild God is available there in illustrated book and poster forms as well.
The Lifepath Dialogues 