Thoughts of a Soo

This makes me smile... one year ago my poem, The Red Shoes, was published by Ink, Sweat and Tears.

I do not love the snow, but not having to be anywhere today helps and photographing Ronnie's first snow angel made me chuckle.

I wrote this poem after seeing the Giant Puppets in Liverpool when their work was linked to The Pals Battalions . It seemed appropriate to post it today and has led to the discovery that the Giant Puppets may well be back in 2018 - this would be another spectacular event to look forward to.

Taking The Great Orme Toll Road had us pausing today for a cup of tea and the view. This remains one of my favourite places.

Great news when I got home yesterday as 'The Seventh Car Will Be His' was voted as Pick of the Month in Ink, Sweat and Tears . Having spent a couple of hours in A and E after dropping a cup of coffee, catching the contents and thus needing a dressing for the resulting burns this news really made me smile. After all these years I perhaps have a Friday the 13th story and may be heard on future occasions saying "Oh, I don't drink coffee on Friday the Thirteenth..." Voters’ comments included: This poem makes me feel as though I am the girl who is shocked at the sight of a dead rabbit. It is easy to imagine myself in the girls shoes, being a child again, watching out of the window, being comforted by my brother. A vivid picture is painted of what can be seen in the street while they are waiting. I like the fact that the biggest shock comes at the end when you realise it is a pet rabbit rather than one that would be used as food. It is atmospheric and dark.

'The Seventh Car Will Be His' can be found here. I loved seeing my poem in the real world this week on Ink, Sweat and Tears and have been enjoying sharing it with people. Feedback says there is a dark side to my poetry and I particularly loved the phrase "wonderfully wild and dark" which was assigned to my work by a well-known poet this week. It has been a good week for my poetry as this week has also included feedback from my wonderful MA poetry buddy, Audrey, who has taken time to read through my portflio with real care.

Guernsey holiday 2017 in which I finally learned to be out of my depth in the sea at Herm. Some photos of the 2 weeks that will always make me smile. These three photos because there is fun to be had come rain or shine. And these because it's the small moments that bring balance and peace.  

In the company of other good poets in Crossings Over. Nice. Details of the anthology here. You can also hear 'Sloth' here. Or watch a reading of it here.

It was grey at home yesterday so we drove to the coast to find blue sky and sunshine. Three seals were swimming in Angel Bay and after watching them for a while we decided to climb up The Little Orme. It was very steep at first and we were not in the best of footwear for continuing upwards so we decided to see if we could wind our way around the edge and then drop down. Our chosen path led to an open farm gate where a dog sat watching us. We guessed he did not want us to go any further and turned to leave. Like a scene from Lassie he then followed us and did not turn back until he had led us to the gate where we had first ascended. This is us after a seal sneezed and before our mini adventure up and back down again!

 A few sunny days in a row included a sunset walk and time to chill. 

It felt good to walk along the beach at Aldeburgh and watch the sunrise on Saturday. I wanted to capture the moment to look back on so I took some shots on my phone. A magical time of day and interesting to note that perhaps I am now more sunrise than sunset.  We had the sunny experience and Ronnie had the cloudier day...

Yesterday I painted 2 new pictures and today a wood pigeon sent its sound down the chimney to announce a slice of Spring. I have walked 4km each day which makes me feel more on track for my target of 5km a day. I like the arrival of this, the best time of year. These daffodils were blooming on Anglesey a while ago and today there are many around here as well as pink blossom and new buds

Dinner with Roger McGough made us very happy last night. There was much laughter amongst the conversations and later, I wrote a poem for him... Roger, Did you know we are glad you’re here? We’d rather swim in your words than across Lake Windermere.

 Because a packet of Parma Violets used to be slid across the Post Office counter to me when I was young.

  From tea to the moon via the seaside today. The sea was rough and a seal was doing an excellent job of swimming out to sea through the waves.