Poetry Books!

I'm going back to keeping a reading record like I did when I was studying for the MA. Hopefully this will cure me of my addiction to my ipad. First choice off my shelves is Michael Longley's A Hundred Doors.

Yes, time does fly!

I've been adventuring in Colombia, Ecuador and Galapagos and can't quite believe that the trip, that took a year to organise, is over ... except for about 400 photos. This is also an excuse for lack of blog posts, though, in fact I've been home for a month.

My poetry is struggling and stuttering.  I've been working on one poem for months which just WON'T come right in the last line. Maybe a message to bin it, but I think there might be something worth saving. I can't even put it away for a bit as it won't let go of me. 

Thank goodness for the poetry school as I've enrolled for an online course with Rebecca Goss, 'Poetry of Home and Domestic Objects.' This suits me well as I love writing about the power of familiar objects in the house. I hope it will bring back my muse.

I think that my ipad distracts me from reading properly. I'm too easily distracted when an email pops in, or an idea takes me off on a tangent. I'm going to give myself some rules and settle down to some serious reading of all those fabulous poetry books sitting by my bed! Here the Poetry School is also coming to my aid again, as I've enrolled in a reading group with Clare Pollard, on reading Plath's Ariel. I can't wait for the summer courses to get going in May.

The house has been taking up lots of my time. I'd no idea how untidy we'd become and I've been trying to tidy up for the house to go on the market. At the moment I've stuffed everything into cupboards and into the loft and have a feeling I won't be tackling that lot until we get an offer and the pressure is on. The photographs were taken yesterday, so by Monday, the house we've lived in for 20 years, should be on the market. I have no regrets now the decision has been taken, and look forward to moving somewhere with a smaller garden, or just maybe, no garden at all. Anyway I'm being strong minded and not starting the search until we get a bite. I've always bought my homes by falling in love with them, and I don't want to fall in love, without the funds to get married!

Signing off with a happy house in Cartagena!