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Helen Sullivan

Helen Sullivan

The Guardian

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The nature of ... A robin: inside her small dark eye, a quantum entanglement

What is it about the poem “Who killed Cock Robin?” It is so sad, and so coolly dark: a miniature drama played out in the shade of a single tree....

12.12.2023 50

The Guardian

Helen Sullivan

The nature of ... A nautilus: a mass extinction event survivor in a spiral shell which reflects galaxies

Where to start with the nautilus: at the centre of the spiral or its culmination? It is a cephalopod in a shell, a spiral no wider than the length of...

27.11.2023 5

The Guardian

Helen Sullivan

The nature of ... A crab: every bit of its armour is a container for a precious object

This is a recipe for moéche, the green, soft-shelled crabs that live in Venetian lagoons: mix a batter of flour, eggs, salt and parmesan cheese in a...

14.11.2023 10

The Guardian

Helen Sullivan

The nature of ... A jacaranda: making the blue summer sky even bluer

It is what jacarandas do to blue sky that makes us so helpless to resist them. They emerge in early summer, when we hope the skies will be bluest, and...

30.10.2023 1

The Guardian

Helen Sullivan

The nature of ... A cloud: ‘reading the earth with its blind shadow’

Clouds have so much to do with how the day feels, with what the day seems like. Clouds, more than any other weather that touches your skin – the...

17.10.2023 10

The Guardian

Helen Sullivan

The nature of ... A slug: there is but one external clue to the very, very strange things going on inside

Slugs have not inspired much poetry – though this line from Brian Swann is nice: “Turn them over, they’re the soles of new shoes, / pale and...

02.10.2023 9

The Guardian

Helen Sullivan

The nature of ... A brontosaurus: we are willing to forgive this colossal dinosaur its tiny head

I t is a fact about people that we all love a brontosaurus. The long curved neck, the small head, the massive ribs. We don’t mind a brachiosaurus...

18.09.2023 5

The Guardian

Helen Sullivan

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