Skeleton Architecture

Today's tanka was inspired by something someone said on Instagram, that they were not really there on that day because they were really upset. They said it on a day when I was not really there either. Does everybody get that? Sociability waxing and waning? Anyway, it inspired me to write, so here you go.

Happy New Year! I hope you've had a great Christmas and New Year. We did, although it was a bit quiet. The last week of the holidays dragged, mainly because I got a stinking horrible cold on January 1st, which is making me feel totally rotten. Ugh. Anyway, things are going pretty well on the writing front. I had two poems out last month, and I also got shortlisted for the Great British Write Off, which was totally unexpected, and kinda lovely. I've also had lots of things rejected, and failed to get placed in my local writing group's competition. I worked really hard on that poem and I'm annoyed with myself for not doing better, I'm trying to tell myself it's all subjective, but the usual suspects got placed again. Maybe it's just not my audience. I am slightly gutted that Maddy at Writing Bubble is going to be too busy to run the What I'm Writing Linky this year, but so glad that she's got lots of interesting things on. However, Sara at Mum T...

I've been thinking about family and our emotional bonds a bit lately. Motherhood is often dressed up in pink bows and seems to be seen as something to be argued over, and taken for granted, but that love that you get when you become a mother is huge and possibly violent and all encompassing. Personally, I've only become a mother through having babies, but there are other ways and I'm sure that magically weird strong relationships develop in those too. Anyway, before I start trying to ensure everyone is included I'll stop, because this is about me and how I feel about my kids. Perhaps there will be things in here you'll recognise. The picture above is of me with my last baby, the one who was born in bloood and flashing lights and drama, as referred to in my last poem, Return . I read this poem out today at my writers group, and thought I'd read it for you too. Click below for the recording. Love There’s a fierceness to it. This gentle, pa...

I've been away for such a long time! My last post was about a month ago, and was written when I thought that Katsuma was going to die. I was so incredibly worried about him, and I'm happy to report that he has pulled through that crisis, although he is still a very sick cat. He is now on lots of medication for his heart disease, and he is no longer capable of living the life he previously lived. But I think he's still content. He gets ever so much love, and I know he wishes he could still go out and kill things, but lying in any possible patch of sun comes a close second. He's never going to be fully better, and at some point another crisis will come, and that is when we will stop, because he's done amazingly well, he's walking again and everything, but I wouldn't want to see him go through such a terrible time again. Anyway, what have I been doing to keep myself away for so long? Lots of poems. I have been writing away, with so many ideas that I'm ...

I've been in a people-watching kind of place lately. Maybe it's the cold turn in the weather, but I've been keeping more to myself, and instead, paying attention to the way people are talking to each other and to the stories people tell. Yesterday I went to my friend Rose's funeral. I had written this poem in the light of her death, although of course, at her funeral it was her poems that were shared, and I was so glad about that, because I'd feared I'd never hear them again, and worse, that I'd already heard them for the last time and didn't know when that was. I heard so many stories of the inspiration and encouragement that Rose gave to people. I can only hope to emulate that. I will try. I am very glad that her light was not dimmed at the end, but went out swiftly, so we all got to remember her as the vibrant, exciting woman she was. On Monday I went to my Writing Group's AGM which was busy, with a packed agenda, and I was fascinated to se...

I've been working on a couple of structures of poems lately. The sonnet (as in my poem ' Confusion '), and another structure inspired by Muse's song Butterflies and Hurricanes (I would so love to sing that song in a choir). I mentioned in yesterday's post  that I was using this structure to write a magickal poem which I haven't really finished faffing with, so I'm not sharing that. However, this morning I woke up with a different song in my head - Munich by the Editors: and I've taken that as a jumping off point for another poem using the same (kind of) structure. My kids helped me work it out this morning, so let me know what you think.  I'm joining up with the Prose for Thought linky with this post (click on the picture below to find out more), and also The Prompt (see picture also). The Prompt for this week is 'respect'.  For the last few months I've been troubled by a really chuffing painful shoulder. I thought it migh...