Creative Writing Wordshops Newsletter January 2025

What we call the beginning is often the end. And to make an end
is to make a beginning. (T S. Eliot)

As we move into the first quarter of the 21st century, the beginning of a year, I’m thinking about beginnings and endings. We talk as if they are linear. I thought I could coin a word begend so looked it up and
behold found:

• a song – Higher Intelligence Agency
• from the album S.H.A.D.O 2
• a TV soap -Begend the Endginning
• a definition – when repeats follow the end of miserable experiences

What if these ‘Begin End’ labels are circular rather than linear? TS Eliot in
East Coker writes of this cycle:

In my beginning is my end. In succession
Houses rise and fall, crumble, are extended,
Are removed, destroyed, restored ….
there is a time for building
And a time for living and for generation
And a time for the wind to break the loosened pane….

http://dorianhaarhoffblog.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Jan-2025-letter.pdf