Another ordinary day

Cooler this morning and writing morning pages outside felt very good. I’m always unsure about the effect of ‘just writing’ whether it’s with pen and paper or as now fingers and keyboard. Dandelion clocks are everywhere, mostly still set at midnight. Lower temperatures mean less hornet activity in the pears and apples, the bees continue to feed on our clover and there’s still a wasps nest in the little barn roof. . The buzzy things take all day to feed, the dog eats just once and quickly, and the lizard slinks after flies as and when, I  guess. .

Found some time for my knitting today and finished the first front of the cardigan … and after years of knitting I now realise the value of counting rows as well as stitches. My aim is for two fronts that are absolute mirror images to avoid the usual pulling to fit when sewing up. More on this later …

Also discovered Carol Rumen’s poem of the week in The Guardian. The last weeks two poems focus on ageing and I enjoyed Rumen’s very reader friendly critique of form and content. –so that’s what  alexandrine metre is!

UK Poetry Society Director to Resume Post : Harriet Staff : Harriet the Blog : The Poetry Foundation

UK Poetry Society Director to Resume Post : Harriet Staff : Harriet the Blog : The Poetry Foundation

Redrafting …

Spent my poetry time today with some early drafts of this summer’s work… looking at form, line breaks, etc.,  trying for a critical un-detached eye, sometimes succeeding. Its very hot here in Puycasquier at present so morning pages were replaced with a very early morning walk with the dogs –in the shade of the woods before the air became too hot for the three of us.  Maybe there’s a poem in the way Crumble led me into the woods her way, determined that we should not take the first path, and Cookie, suddenly deciding she would come along, always behind, always at her meaningful pace until something catches her attention and she’s gone. We spent sometime in the sunflower field, amongst the percussion of end-of-summer heads. I’m still re-reading poems from The Singing … they're a good accompaniment to coffee and pain au raison. 

Sending poems out into the world

… decisions about which poems to choose for where and then there’s the question of whether to enter a competition or send to magazines asking for submission. Not forgetting finding which poems are ready to go, if these fit the theme if there is one and keeping a record of it all. That’s the rant for today … more positively I’ve sent five poems to competitions and refined my poem excel spread sheet. Also, ordered the e-magazine Prole as my new poetry read for a few months, This will be my first try at getting a poetry magazine as a pdf via email… it has yet to arrive but I did pay for it eventually via PayPal –I think!!

Started the day with morning pages and the start of a poem about picking figs … I’m thinking of a series of How to poems. I’ve already started with How to Feed a Dolphin and Please a Tourist but maybe it could become monotonous?  Had breakfast, which included some of the figs that were asking to be picked, with C K Williams book The Singing, a re-reading of a collection that has lots to admire and learn from.

Finally, today, to support the cookery element of this blog a recipe , Take freshly picked tomatoes and red peppers,, set a tray full of the veg to roast with sea salt, freshly ground black pepper, garlic and herbs. Cook in a hot oven for about 40 mind until squashy. Whiz up in the food processor to make a great pasta sauce, don’t overwiz unless you want soup. A simple supper for an evening in the heat wave.

Birthday work

I’ve been working on this blog today, calling on James to help at regular intervals. So far its got much more poetry than anything else but there will be other days. I’ve had a tranquil birthday, although thunder is rolling around the house as I write.  Paul and Tracey have just been shopping for plumbing stuff … just a little more creating by them and I will be able to move upstairs. Last night we all enjoyed the night market in Lavardens, eating outside between the high warm walls of ancient streets with the chateau above us: good food, very good local wine and great company.  Made notes on the sights and sounds of the village en fete, lots of English voices, street food and funky jewellery for sale  and all this under flying buttresses balanced like rows of neglected incisors high overhead.  Also, had some ideas about where to submit poems this month.

Finally, writing this has bought back memories of the good habit of writing that I got into for glowwormtravels … just a few words each day like just a few minutes on the yoga mat makes all the difference. 

To begin, but not to start

Welcome to my new blog created with James’ help and still in need of refinement … hope I can remember how to tweak and add etc. My aim is to bring some of my interests into one place and, especially, to post comments on trying to spend more time on writing and reading poetry and to getting my poems published. I’ve started to add in links to other poetry blogs and sites linked to yarn craft and sewing, and where you can see some of my past poems and knitting projects.I’ll be adding photos of felting and quilting projects soon.
Earlier today I started another poem from the news  to add to the two drafted yesterday. As always, they are in need of more work and will then be ready to take to workshops in the autumn. I’ve signed up for another year of Tamar Yoseloff’s great seminars and a Poetry School on-line course –a first for me! 

From Craft projects

I’m also still knitting the cardigan for myself with the organic cream yarn bought at last year’s Knitting and Stitching show … the collar shaping on the front is very clever and fortunately very easy as mostly these days I’m knitting in the warmth of our latish summer here at EnMatte. Having completed the back of another garment, failed to conquer the pattern and unravelled the lot, I shall be very glad to see all these bargain balls of yarn converted into clothes! To date I have one lacey beret … ready to wear in the autumn walking more of the Thames Path.