Having done bugger-all blogging in 2016, it feels a bit rich to be signing off for the year (what, you’re still around?! I thought you’d been ossified), but none the less, I am so doing. It’s been a funny one. Again. We had the Earthquake anthology, plus quite a few more big shakes. Takahē, and …
Free session – An Introduction to Close Reading
As a final little flourish before we all pack things up for the year, I’m offering a free short seminar-style class immediately after the final session of Reading for Writing on December 3rd – an Introduction to Close Reading, focusing exclusively on Don Paterson’s poem Imperial. I talk a bit about the practice of close reading on my …
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An absolutely uneventful night in Canterbury
I knew the world was going to end after Trump won the election, but I didn’t realise that the planet also felt that way. Jokes aside, we’re ok here – shaken, hyper-vigilent, seriously sleep-deprived, but intact. But I have to confess I did spend a bit of time whimpering. The big one just seemed to …
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Reasons not to go online – # 2,447: addendum
On the way in to the class, I needed to fill up with petrol. (The car, not me.) First option: a queue. Ok, continue in to Lincoln. Get to Lincoln. All bowsers occupied. People towing boats, filling jerry cans. People from cars standing around talking. Pull in to a car park to wait. Get gazzumped by two other …
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Reasons not to go online – # 2,447
Sometimes the universe seems to line things up, so that it feels as though you are receiving a domino-chain of affirmation – random things, unrelated or only tangentially so, that fall into place with a sound like yes! Yes. Yes. See, we’re aligning for you! Yes. Yes. Yes. Synchronicity, in other words. I try not to be superstitious (or …
A Dark Feathered Art 