Five years ago today that the earth decided it was time for a change, and went off exloring the surrounding areas. Five years since sleepy, flat, boring Canterbury became an altogether too exciting place to try and and do anything like "settle". Five years since phrases like "terra firma" (I can't be the only person …
A difficult day
Today I took possession of Helen Bacand’s books and poetry files. It was a difficult thing, and I had to have a few moments of sitting in the car, staring at the the windscreen wipers before I was able to pull myself together enough to drive safely. The papers were hard, but the thing that …
The trouble with … giving feedback
One of the things that people ask me quite often in workshops is Why don’t editors give feedback (more often)? And it’s a peril of editing that I feel inclined to waffle about today. But first, a quote to put us all in the right frame of mind: The only thing to do with good advice …
A Good First Line (and Hard Work)
A few years ago (too many to be able to track down the source again, curses!) I came across a reference to writing a decent poem essentially coming down to “a good first line, plus hard work”. An interesting assertion, and the focus of today’s waffle. Lets begin with some definitions, courtesy of Wikipedia: “Incipit” is a Latin word meaning …
“Loss” by Helen Bascand
Loss It takes years to understand how thought reached out, pulled down the blind, folded the sheets, stacked them with lavender in some spare cupboard. You are not the only bereft, they say. I do not want unused sheets, closed doors, last year’s scented bags that smell of dust. I do not want the husk …
A Dark Feathered Art 