Singing as the darkness lifts 30/10/2023
This morning the air smells of leaves again, and I am wondering what the moon would smell of. The moon wears a thin circular blanket of cloud before revealing its subtle waning in a blue sky.
There has been much tea drinking, feasting, conversation and laughter in the past couple of weeks. Time taken to step into the world and connect with friends. There has been magic in the moments with the tea pot with the googly eyes, the cups with no saucers and the afternoon tea enjoyed while we listened to a trio play.
I loved that afternoon tea because it was a gift to Kath from a very good friend of hers and they included me in the magic too; it was like being transported into another world where we were wrapped in music.
When I recounted to my brother the things I have done since starting this blog and my new relationship with Mondays, we decided that my stating I had done things it would have taken me a decade to do was an exaggeration, but that it might well have taken me a couple of years.
I take real joy in seeing my poems in the world and this week I have read ‘You Are Glorious’ at a live launch and on a podcast thanks to Damien B Donnelly and The Storms Journal/Eat the Storms. I have also seen ‘A Pelican is Dancing on the Patio’ gain publication with Ink, Sweat and Tears. Both these poems are special to me. The former because it is a love poem (as long as you don’t get too wrapped up on wives in snowglobes being a bit like wives in jars) and the latter because writing it was such fun. Writing this has just made me go back to the journal to find the drafting process for A Pelican on the Patio and I have photographed it to include at the end of this blog as it is quite profound!
Kath has laughed at my wildcard poem entry for The National Poetry Competition which closes on 31st October which made me laugh too because I might be the only person who really, really likes that particular poem. I will find it a home after this outing if it does not win so you can decide!
My relationship with essays has continued this week and I temporarily forgot how overwhelmed I feel when I work on too many things at once, which made the relationship not quite as satisfying as my 'splurge and write and keep going' phase! My mind was on three larger sized things at the time I was adding some detail into my essay and I could feel my thoughts filling my brain and making me slow and frustrated. I did stop, but definitely could have stopped sooner! My strategy to combat this going forward is to give myself clear timescales for things because this works for me and counteracts my overwhelm which wears a cloak of ‘you’re running out of time and you are not good enough to get this done’ and chases me with it.
It's good to have solutions to the potential overwhelm and it is good to laugh while you find them.
Now for the poems if you haven’t already seen them. If you like being read to then do pop over to my YouTube channel and I will read ‘You Are Glorious’ to you.
Image description:
Image of a dirt road into a dark wood with part of a mirror ball upper righthand corner and the faint line drawing of a pelican bottom left.
A PELICAN IS DANCING ON THE PATIO
And there is a disco
very deep in the woods.
The pelican is tapping out its rhythm
and no one can quite name the tune
even though it is right there
on the tip of tongues.
And the people that know about the disco
very deep in the woods
are glad they are not there
under the lights and rotor blades.
The pelican is making quite some draught now
its wings high and flapping.
It is turning in circles
ecstatic in its dance.
And the people that know about the disco
very deep in the woods are checking
on their loved ones
and they are desperately trying to name
what that bird is dancing to.
Here’s to
the continued singing as the darkness lifts.
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