{"id":8879,"date":"2026-03-21T21:43:21","date_gmt":"2026-03-21T21:43:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tomeri.org\/notes\/?p=8879"},"modified":"2026-03-22T00:42:25","modified_gmt":"2026-03-22T00:42:25","slug":"atoms-of-delight-kenneth-stevem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tomeri.org\/notes\/2026\/03\/21\/atoms-of-delight-kenneth-stevem\/","title":{"rendered":"Atoms of Delight, Kenneth Steven"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><em>Atoms of Delight: Ten Pilgrimages in Nature,<\/em><\/strong> Kenneth Steven, 2024<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><mark style=\"background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)\" class=\"has-inline-color has-purple-color\">March 2026<\/mark><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A short book of essays by a Scottish poet about, essentially, walks he has taken &#8212; essays are usually followed by a poem that relates to the walk described.  I believe that the phrase &#8220;Atoms of Delight&#8221; is taken from Scottish writer Neil Gunn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I&#8217;m enjoying the book, and the poems, but mildly rather than intensely. I stumbled across this book in a bookstore, while looking for something else. This is part of my effort to read more books that describe the landscape. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_85 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-light-blue ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Toggle Table of Content\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/tomeri.org\/notes\/2026\/03\/21\/atoms-of-delight-kenneth-stevem\/#Serpentine\" >Serpentine<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/tomeri.org\/notes\/2026\/03\/21\/atoms-of-delight-kenneth-stevem\/#The_High_Lochs\" >The High Lochs<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/tomeri.org\/notes\/2026\/03\/21\/atoms-of-delight-kenneth-stevem\/#Cloudberries\" >Cloudberries<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/tomeri.org\/notes\/2026\/03\/21\/atoms-of-delight-kenneth-stevem\/#Conkers\" >Conkers<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/tomeri.org\/notes\/2026\/03\/21\/atoms-of-delight-kenneth-stevem\/#The_Pool\" >The Pool<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-6\" href=\"https:\/\/tomeri.org\/notes\/2026\/03\/21\/atoms-of-delight-kenneth-stevem\/#A_Treasure\" >A Treasure<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-7\" href=\"https:\/\/tomeri.org\/notes\/2026\/03\/21\/atoms-of-delight-kenneth-stevem\/#Agates\" >Agates<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-8\" href=\"https:\/\/tomeri.org\/notes\/2026\/03\/21\/atoms-of-delight-kenneth-stevem\/#The_Santa_Crux_Well\" >The Santa Crux Well<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-9\" href=\"https:\/\/tomeri.org\/notes\/2026\/03\/21\/atoms-of-delight-kenneth-stevem\/#The_Oaks\" >The Oaks<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-10\" href=\"https:\/\/tomeri.org\/notes\/2026\/03\/21\/atoms-of-delight-kenneth-stevem\/#The_Northern_Lights\" >The Northern Lights<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Serpentine\"><\/span>Serpentine<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Recounting a walk to St Columba&#8217;s Bay that he has taken many times, both as an adult and especially as a child, and how the walk rekindles in him the feeling of being a child. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>A memory of running ahead and waiting for his parents to catch up. <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>And, today, imagining that he can catch glimpses of his parents, from years ago, walking. <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The bay is held in rock arms, and the ocean is fierce, not &#8220;<em><mark style=\"background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)\" class=\"has-inline-color has-bright-blue-color\">any gentle sea lapping at the lips of the bay.<\/mark><\/em>&#8221; <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Somewhere out in the bay there is a reef of serpentine, and he describes the pebbles they form, &#8220;<em><mark style=\"background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)\" class=\"has-inline-color has-bright-blue-color\">like sweets specifically designed to catch the eye of a child.<\/mark><\/em>&#8221; <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>He describes gathering cobbles as a child &#8212; you&#8217;re either a tide dancer or a sifter. &#8220;<em><mark style=\"background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)\" class=\"has-inline-color has-bright-blue-color\">I still come here, year on year, to be blown out of myself and into childhood.<\/mark><\/em>&#8220;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Hold it to the light and it changes<br>becomes a globe of fractures;<br>a cavern of ledges and glinting\u2014<br>not one green but many at once.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8230;carrying the cuts of its journey,<br>the brokenness letting in the light<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"The_High_Lochs\"><\/span>The High Lochs<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">An essay remembering the highlands, where his mother&#8217;s people are from, and where his parents went for outings, his mother fly-fishing, and his father bird watching.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;<em><mark style=\"background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)\" class=\"has-inline-color has-bright-blue-color\">The fossil imprints left in the mind can only be chiseled out only as stories,  because no other evidence survives. <\/mark><\/em>&#8220;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;<mark style=\"background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)\" class=\"has-inline-color has-bright-blue-color\"><em>It always seemed an impossible blue, perhaps because it was set against such dark garments of moorland.<\/em><\/mark>&#8220;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;<em><mark style=\"background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)\" class=\"has-inline-color has-bright-blue-color\">The silence was like a thin, beautiful layer of ice, something you didn&#8217;t want to break.<\/mark><\/em>&#8220;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><br><mark style=\"background-color:#fff\" class=\"has-inline-color has-bright-blue-color\">&#8220;<\/mark><em><mark><mark style=\"background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)\" class=\"has-inline-color has-bright-blue-color\">At night the sky a breath of stars<\/mark><\/mark><\/em><mark style=\"background-color:#fff\" class=\"has-inline-color has-bright-blue-color\">&#8220;<\/mark><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Cloudberries\"><\/span>Cloudberries<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">About a time spent in the Norwegian arctic with the Sami, shortly after Chernobyl. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;<em><mark style=\"background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)\" class=\"has-inline-color has-bright-blue-color\">The plateau wasn&#8217;t just a bare back of rock and trees: it undulated &#8211; rose and dipped and rose again. There were hollows and little dark eyes of pools that I recognised as lochans.<\/mark><\/em>&#8220;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Conkers\"><\/span>Conkers<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Not a bad essay, but this one did not speak to me. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"The_Pool\"><\/span>The Pool<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"A_Treasure\"><\/span>A Treasure<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Agates\"><\/span>Agates<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"The_Santa_Crux_Well\"><\/span>The Santa Crux Well<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"The_Oaks\"><\/span>The Oaks<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"The_Northern_Lights\"><\/span>The Northern Lights<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n<p>Views: 13<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Atoms of Delight: Ten Pilgrimages in Nature, Kenneth Steven, 2024 March 2026 A short book of essays by a Scottish poet about, essentially, walks he has taken &#8212; essays are usually followed by a poem that relates to the walk described. I believe that the phrase &#8220;Atoms of Delight&#8221; is taken from Scottish writer Neil &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/tomeri.org\/notes\/2026\/03\/21\/atoms-of-delight-kenneth-stevem\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Atoms of Delight, Kenneth Steven<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"activitypub_content_warning":"","activitypub_content_visibility":"","activitypub_max_image_attachments":4,"activitypub_interaction_policy_quote":"anyone","activitypub_status":"federated","footnotes":""},"categories":[36,41,76,75,78],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8879","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-notes","category-essays","category-landscape-essays-project","category-more-to-be-added","category-now-reading"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tomeri.org\/notes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8879","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tomeri.org\/notes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tomeri.org\/notes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tomeri.org\/notes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tomeri.org\/notes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8879"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/tomeri.org\/notes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8879\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8915,"href":"https:\/\/tomeri.org\/notes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8879\/revisions\/8915"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tomeri.org\/notes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8879"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tomeri.org\/notes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8879"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tomeri.org\/notes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8879"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}