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!

... and now it's nearly Christmas!

My last post was in July, so where did I go? Absolutely nowhere! I've been writing poetry every day and getting lots of rejections, but nothing makes me want to give up. I've been continuing with online courses with the Poetry School which are always inspiring and I've also sent poems to Katrina Naomi for critiquing. She was so perceptive with her comments that she helped me enormously. This, I think, is the way forward.

I've fallen in love with a pamphlet 'What I Saw' by Laura Scott, published by The Rialto. There is a short poem in it called 'Poems' that has been pinned up in my study for the last couple of years as it inspires me. The other poems in the pamphlet are beautiful and I wish I could write like that.

Last week I read a couple of poems at the Poetry Society Stanza meeting, at Keats House in Hampstead. I'm ashamed to say that I've never been there before and it was wonderful. I met Stanza 'leaders' (I don't like the word 'facilitator') from all over the UK and further afield. It was refreshing to be able to talk poetry and discuss how we all manage our Stanza groups. I was interested to talk to two leaders from Spain to see how their meetings compared with ours in Portugal.

There have been weddings and funerals, births and deaths, and many plans for 2015. First up is a trip to Colombia, Ecuador and the Galapagos in January, and, less formed, plans to spend 6 months in Porto (beautiful city) in the Autumn, sell the house in Sintra and move nearer the sea, and a tutored poetry retreat at Moniack Mhor in September. I'll be needing it, as hopefully, there'll be poems to work on that emerge from the cloud forests of Ecuador.

Resolution: Blog more often ;-)

Poetry Reading

My completely wonderful Stanza group pulled out all the stops and gave a great reading on Sunday. We had a large audience (nearly a crowd!) and even a few people sitting on the floor. It was hard not having any idea how many people might turn up but we had about 50 which is fabulous.

We read for about 6 minutes each, in two sets, and had printed out a pamphlet with a small selection of our poems which people found really helpful. I think a lot of them had never been to a poetry reading before. They seemed to enjoy it and were a wonderful group, ready to laugh in all the right places, and are already asking for the next one! It took so long to organise that I now feel quite flat and a little bit aimless. All poetry ideas have fled to the four corners of the eaves, so I will have to coax them down.

Not much more to say about it except it was great fun and I was on a high afterwards until just now! I think it's bed time ... so goodnight.

Wind Turbines

Before I apologise, yet again, for being such a lazy blogger, let me confess to an obsession with wind turbines. Yes,they are a blot on the landscape, and yet, they are so graceful and appear out of nowhere and in the most unlikely places. They have set me off on a writing spree which is something I don't turn my back on.

Meanwhile I've been walking in the Alentejo in dangerous places. Gado Bravo is the equivalent of 'Beware of the Bull.' We were a group of about 30 and even had our picnic in the 'Gado Bravo' field. I wasn't very hungry and longed to be anywhere but in a field of wild bulls. We were among the cork trees, where, I was told, the bulls don't like to go. If you believe that you'll believe anything!

On the poetry front I was lucky enough to get a place on Kim Moore's open workshop with the Poetry School and I'm also on another online course with Katrina Naomi on the use of the Autobiographical 'I'. 

Today I achieved all the printing for our Stanza group's poetry reading and left posters and leaflets at the House of Wonders. It's interesting being on the organising end for a change and it's a lot of fiddly work. I'm looking forward to the reading and hope we don't have an empty room!

I'm off to UK on Thursday for the Aldeburgh music festival again, and promise not to post any more Scallop shells or shingle. Who knows what will feature this time.

Freefall

I have already been back from my Freefall writing retreat for three weeks, so I feel shockingly remiss not to have written about it sooner. I think that, because it was such a fabulous experience, I wanted to leave it happily in my memory box. Barbara Turner Vesselago came from Canada to lead us, in a beautiful place near Lagos (Agarve) called Monte Rosa. There was something very liberating about writing without editing. I did feel as if shackles had fallen off me and somehow managed to write 5 poems every morning. Of course, they now need editing to knock them into shape, but that wasn't the purpose of the exercise. 

The mornings were spent in silence and you write until mid-day and then print it out and give it in to Barbara. In the afternoons we would meet and Barbara would read out the work anonymously - a bit tricky if you are the only poet! We had a wonderful group of people, 4 from Portugal, 3 from Canada, 1 from Sweden and 1 from France, all writing in English. They were wonderful writers as well as being supportive and funny.

The picture above is of the cork forest over the road where we would go for walks. The trees are wonderful shapes and look like chorus girls. As it was April the wildflowers were in full bloom, especially the giant rock roses.

I haven't been exactly lazy since my return, but feel as if I've been fiddling about. I've been editing work and looking at all the impending competitions. I know they are such a long shot but it is exciting to have poems on the move, even a rejection can be exciting, as there is always a chance! I'm also trying to decide which poems to read at our first Stanza group reading at the end of June.

House of Wonders

Our Stanza group are very happy to have chosen a venue for our first poetry reading. The House of Wonders in the centre of Cascais looks like the perfect place for an informal reading with an open mic at the end. We have no idea how many people, if any, may come but reckon we have to give it a go.

We have a name which we chose democratically with an anonymous vote and call ourselves BLUE  ORANGE POETS. Agneta, who is one of our group is a fabulous artist and is designing a logo which I'll post here once she's finished.

In a couple of weeks I'm heading off to the Algarve for a Freefall Writing week lead by Barbara Turner Vesselago. I'll certainly be blogging about it afterwards and am looking forward to the whole experience.