Poetry news

Today I was meant to be working but the ground was too wet. It's a quiet time of year for me which is good as it means I can get on with writing. However some days the small tasks expand and squeeze out all the writing time. I am being disciplined today - armed with a list I stayed on track.

I am writing a synopsis of my first and second chapters and then will put them aside to bubble and brew before I continue rewriting.

I had some lovely poetry news the other day. Carol Ann Duffy is coming to my quiet bit of London. I have been asked to put forward one of my poems to read on the night. YIPPEE.

I saw a beautiful double rainbow today it spurred me onto my bike and I had a ride along the brook not far from my house.

Novelling along

This is going to be a short post. I have been writing and listening to some music from my youth thanks to youtube. I was really into lovers rock and years ago my friend made me a fab tape which I can't find - it had Carroll Thompson and Janet Kay on it amongst others.
I picked up my first pair of varifocals today - so tragic I still feel seventeen but my body keeps disagreeing.
Hoorah! I am now up to 3,089 words of my rewrite. That's chapter one done, though I think half of it still stinks. To rewrite again or carry on? What's the consensus?

Novel waiting

Not bonfire making weather so I'm here with my novel. I started it two years ago and got up to 63000 words thanks to Nanowrite. I managed to succesfully ignore it for a good six months but then the main character started popping back into my head. I ignored her and carried on editing my poems and writing some new ones. But she was still there waiting. Then I read the title of the course I'm attending through the Poetry School (I'm not good on headlines or titles) which is Poetry AND Prose. So I took along the beginning of my rewritten chapter hoping that it would be shot down, that I would be told it's not worth pursuing- just concentrate on the poetry. But I wasn't.

I felt silly when I read it out to the group- I realised what I couldn't see when it was just written down. I'd edited out some of the back story and therefore some of the meaning and I jumped around more than I realised. I did however use dialogue successfully to suggest the story. That made me really happy as I have always had trouble with dialogue. There's no excuses, apparently I have a story worth telling so more prevaricating .....

Maybe I will post my word count here

ok here goes - so far 2,357. Is 3,000 words a good number for a chapter?

I'm listening to
Pierre Henry's Paroxysms and I've started a short story to it. I like it though it's well weird.

Happy New Year!

I haven't posted in ages as I thought my blog was broken. It turns out it was just that one post that wouldn't work. This winter has been kind - there's been lots of sunlight and I've not got as down as I usually get. The mild weather has meant that I've also been able to catch up at the allotment and have done most of my digging. I haven't sown my broad beans yet and don't know whether to wait for spring or try doing them now. I'm gonna build a massive bonfire tomorrow as I need to get rid of piles of weeds I've been drying out.
In November I did some poetry with my daughter's class - I had six year olds explaining meanings that I'd missed in poems I'd read to them. Sunday I've got a poetry workshop in South London. I'm looking forward to it. In Feb I'm doing the Poetry from Art at Tate Modern and I'm really excited about that.
Saturday did some wild dancing at the Ukrainian club and spun my friend Rachel round. Her first taste of Ukrainian dancing. She managed not to fall over. We were the last ones on the dancefloor :)

Planting and poetry

Crouching down low to use a trowel to make drills made me smile. Maybe because it felt like planting hope. My daughter helped me sow beetroot seeds or 'tiny stones' as she called them. I took my daughter home then went back to the allotment and dug a trench for Charlotte potatoes. Then I sowed kale, brussel sprouts, broccoli parthenon, iceberg lettuce, parsley and rocket. A guy who has an immaculate plot stopped by to give me a yellow courgette he'd grown from seed and told me how good my plot was looking and said to keep up the good work. It made me see how much I'd done instead of worrying about all the stuff I haven't done yet. My broad beans have germinated - so exciting! I usually plant them in November but planted them late so I was very glad to see they had germinated. Our local mayor staged an exhibition of portraits of poets by Peter Edwards in the council chamber and invited a few poets to read including me. I felt quite intimidated by the chamber as it looked like a court room but I loved performing. Got such an amazing buzz. We read surrounded by paintings of Carol Ann Duffy, Penelope Shuttle, Peter Redgrove, Wendy Cope to name a few. Happy planting everyone!

small stone

the beauty of a moment
that changed the past and present
tilts hot tears.

They gathered inside my untight skin.
Now I know they aren't just mine
but that the lament of unmet relations distilled in me.

Thanks for reading though I feel it's not quite there yet but I guess that's the point of the small stone - not to be too precious.

Small stone

The wooden kitchen counter is dry
she has conserved her oil
in five jagged flakes that sparkle at me.