On the 77th episode of the What is a Good Life? podcast, I am delighted to introduce our guest, Tom Hirons. Tom is a poet and storyteller based in Devon, UK. He is the director of Feral Angels Press and editor of Clarion poetry magazine. He teaches poetry writing, both online and in person, and runs poetry-focused wilderness fasts. Tom’s piece, Sometimes a Wild God, is a subcultural poetry classic. He has never won a poetry prize or been published in a poetry magazine, yet still makes his living from poetry. He says, "I have heard all the terrible news and I have looked into the inferno of the future, but I am still in love with this life." Tom’s latest collection, The Queen of Heaven, is out this week.

In this glorious conversation, Tom shares his journey of becoming a poet and realising how he can best apply his abilities in the world. We discuss tracking life and threads from other worlds. We muse on balancing our ascending into spirit and descending into soul, while acknowledging the beauty that can be lost if we try too hard. He also notes the significance of wilderness fasting in terms of initiation into adulthood and in knowing and living out his nature and soul image.

If you have a gnawing feeling or aching sense that there is so much more to this life than what you are presently aware of or accepting of, this conversation will point to and suggest where to explore, what there is to discover, and what life can feel like from there.

Subscribe for weekly episodes, every Tuesday, and check out my YouTube channel (link below) for clips and shorts.

For further content and information check out the following:

Check out Tom's books here: https://feralangels.com 

His newsletter here: https://newsletter.tomhirons.com/bear-speaks-to-the-stars
His website: https://tomhirons.com

Facebook: https://facebook.com/hironstom

Instagram: https://instagram.com/bearspeakstothestars

- For the podcast's YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/@whatisagoodlife/videos
- My newsletter: https://www.whatisagood.life/
- My LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-mccartney-14b0161b4/

Contact me at mark@whatisagood.life if you'd like to further explore your own lines of self-inquiry or create experiences that lead to more connecting and genuine conversations amongst groups of people.

04:00 Becoming a poet and who he is

07:00 How to develop for greater benefit to others

10:45 Transcendent experiences when connecting to art

15:15 Tracking life and the threads from other worlds

21:15 The significance of Wilderness fasting and initiation into adulthood

27:00 The balancing of soul and spirit of ascending and descending

31:20 Marking our steps into adulthood

35:00 Cultivating a paying attention to and tracking of life

39:45 Allowing space for the non-sacred in creativity

44:50 The beauty that can be lost if we are trying too hard

50:28 Life force, wildness, and the daemon

56:48 The war against the devourer and claiming our birthright

1:01:30 What is a good life for Tom?