Thoughts of a Soo

  Singing as the darkness lifts 27/11/2023 The full moon is somewhere behind the cloud this morning. The air seems to carry the scent of trees, but I am unable to determine what kind. Something in my head is telling me sycamore, and the ground is scattered with sycamore keys so maybe it is. There are poem drafts in my journal as a result of Pascale Petit’s workshop last week and I know I will craft them slowly to relish in the moment and ensure I have squeezed all the poetry out of them that I can and extended them to their fullest selves as poems. There is a slightly different style to what is evolving and that may be resulting from the fact that my second book is now so very close to completion. Yesterday my editor and I worked through some final tweaking to bring the book into fuller clarity for the reader in its structure. This was also the time to discuss the cover. When I heard what Josephine had in mind I felt giddy with excitement. I cannot wait to see what comes bac...

  Singing as the darkness lifts 20/11/2023 Leaf Under Matryoshka Moon A discarded elastic band makes the shape of a matryoshka doll. It is above a leaf in the gutter and temporarily becomes a moon. #ElasticBandPhotos . I sense a vague smell of disinfectant wafting along on the air, but it is not a crisp clean smell. I do not get any other notes and the morning does not feel as November-cold as it has done lately. Streetlights are brighter than stars this morning, but the stars are there as the sun begins to light the sky. The week saw the opportunity for me to immerse myself in the cinema experience of Dolly Parton launching her new album, ‘Rockstar’. It was wonderful to feel myself pulled into that amazing space of being totally in the moment of joy as the big screen gave me the visuals and the sound surrounded me. I love that feeling. Some of the songs in the album resonate with me from the past and I don’t think I will ever forget the time in a pub when someone asked, “What...

  Singing as the darkness lifts 13/11/2023 PETRICHOR   Me and my brother on a farm holiday when we were little and me and my brother at Bletchley Park more recently.   I am a poet who does not like the smell of petrichor. Last night it rained enough to make puddles on the path, so the smell is not in the air. This pleases me. Instead there is a refreshing, just there, note of herb and I learn that fruit flies too are sensitive to that smell of rain on dry ground.   When I was at school one of the projects involved counting fruit flies. I do not remember the exact logistics, but think it had something to do with tabling the numbers with different markings on their rears. My turn one lunch time resulted in me wracking my brains for the knowledge I needed when I dropped the lid of the fruit fly housing and some of the numbers headed for the freedom of the laboratory ceiling. I didn’t let my group down, but I do think a fruit fly flew up my nose during the proc...

Singing as the darkness lifts 06/11/2023 One photo comes from the sharing of four     4 photo montage: Sue is rumbled eating the trick or treat sweets, caught putting a heart in a jar, writing at her desk, looking very serious while reading poems.      Because the Stunt Girl photo got the most votes for profile photo from the four above I chose to don the t-shirt again when I needed to renew my profile photo. Sue sits with writing journal and pen and smiles for the camera in front of a vivid orange and yellow finger painting that she created some years ago. She is wearing her 'stunt girl' t-shirt. (As a quick aside... I shouldn't have told the person who asked what my stunts were in October that I unicycle while eating fire, because that was in fact a big fib and we were both momentarily disappointed!)        This morning the air does not have a hint of fireworks or bonfire smoke and this surprises me. Instea...