Thursday, 30 October 2008
Trollphin
A picture of my dog
The poem and picture below (of yesterday) show a picture of my beautiful dog. We walk on the beach every day - weather allowing - and this poem - or start of a poem is about something that really happened.
My husband would be really angry if he knew I put a picture of her on my blog because he is convinced something will happen to her. But this picture kinda illustrates the work so hey ho! By the way Fox poo really stinks - and it really is sticky and stenchy (not sure that is a word). I could tell you the story of my dog. I have always really wanted a dog - I always had a dog as a child but my husband never really wanted one. But after 25 years of marriage the opportunity came up to get a puppy from someone at work. And I fell in love. I did con him a bit as I said it was on a two week trial - and it truly was. I was convinced he wouldn't give in and I would have to send her back but he fell in love. Head over heels in love. I do all the walking and spend more time with her but she is madly in love with him - perhaps it is a female thing again because our male cat loves me the most. But she is wonderful company and I am so glad we have her. I just wish I had more time to spend with her.
Anyway just a little note. This weekend I am going to try and write more about me. I realise that I may have given a strange impression of me - with so many things missing so will try to rectify this later.
D
Wednesday, 29 October 2008
For a dog
Coming Back
They're coming back
You're coming back
To haunt me.
It's coming back
They're coming back
You're coming back
To break me.
It's coming back
They're coming back
You're coming back
To change me.
It's coming back
They're coming back
You're coming back
To surround me.
It's coming back
They're coming back
You're coming back
To make me doubt me.
It's coming back
They're coming back
You're coming back
To smother me.
It's coming back
They're coming back
You're coming back
Because I am sliding.
It's coming back
They're coming back
You're coming back
Because I am sliding under.
Saturday, 25 October 2008
Young People's Poetry
On holiday - yeah
I have a great big list of things to do whilst I am on holiday.
1 Start creating my Christmas presents eg painting, wrapping, varnishing etc
2 Seeing the community link worker about making life easier in the future.
3 Meeting my friends from Uni
4 Meeting my friend from Work
5 Trying to do Wii fit every day
6 Making sure the dog has good walks every day.
7 Seeing Sam
8 Doing some of the meds training pack (although it pisses me off I have to do it in my own time!!)
9 Cleaning and tidying the house
10 Some writing - fiction and poetry
11 Continuing to sort my work from this blog and saving it to my usb pen. (More on that later).
12 Practicing darts cos at the moment I am crap.
I think that is enough for now - I will let you know at the end of the holiday if I managed it.
My daughter has just got me into facebook. It is quite interesting yet I feel it will be just another time consuming thing and to be honest I prefer this blog. I like being able to say what I want, being able to publish stuff I am enjoying reading and stuff that I am writing. It feels good and now that I am looking back over it and reading stuff I can see how good it has been for my creativity. Hopefully I can find more time to blog - or I guess make more time. I hate it when I am too tired or too busy because I think it is a good part of my day.
Anyway back to face book. I have a few friends - somehow that still feels sad and people keep sending me stuff but I am not sure what I am looking at some of the time. I did get sent this amazing 'You tube' link to a video of a comedian singing about childbirth. It was so funny hopefully I am going to learn how to put it into my blog so you can all enjoy it.
I get emails telling me people have put stuff up on facebook for me to look up but when I look it just kinda takes you into this massive time wasting exercise. Anyway I think I am going to stick with blogging and just check facebook now and again.
Anyway back to my blog - I have been ready the children's poetry book I mentioned before and some of the stuff in it is amazing. I have loads to show you so next few entries will be them. Hope you enjoy them as much as I do.
Tuesday, 21 October 2008
More amazing young poetry
I can't believe how amazing this is - never mind how young the poet is. I so hope this person is still writing, still creating.
Monday, 20 October 2008
Young Poetry
An email on age.
I have had a crap week at work and spent most of the weekend getting wood chopped for the winter (to help save money and keep my lovely woodburner roaring in the lounge). So have had no time to blog. I start two nights a week darts which is gonna make me knackered and the diet has gone out of the window in the last couple of days. Oh well good news is I am on holiday next week and really looking forward to it. I am gonna do lots of christmas presents, try and work on the stuff I am trying to make. Think it could be fun.
Anyway quickly, I got sent this email by my lovely friend Anne (more on her another time) and wanted to share it with you. I am 47 and my next big birthday will be 50 so I kinda get the email. I wish I could find happiness in my work because if I did my life would be pretty good. But guess I can keep working on that.
Monday, 13 October 2008
About my blog
Yesterday I began reading back through my blog mainly to have a look at the poetry I have chosen and the poetry I have written. And guess what I am quite pleased, no I am very pleased with some of the writing. Even if I say so it ain't half bad. I am printing out the writing eg the fiction and the poetry to make up a file of bits I can read when I want. Anyway I have decided to go back over my whole blog and read it all before it gets too big and to also find away to get a few more people to read it. Trouble is some of it is a bit personal so I need to be careful about who I send the link to but maybe my email friend A and K who I used to work with might read it.
A quick aside
I have just heard the new Take That single on Radio One and WOW another brill song and they are going to announce some more tour dates - is there any chance I can get to see them again? The single is going to be huge and the new album called The Circus, well can it be anything but brilliant? I will be singing along to the new single very soon. I love singing in the car and when I am on my own. I have to sing on my own because basically I can't really hold a tune but I love to sing it make me feel better.
Anyway back to today's blog. I am still concerned about my work situation but not sure what to do about it. I have effectively been sent to Coventry by AB and the boss is being very undermining to what I am doing. I am seeing the doctor today to get some advice and see if there is somewhere else I can go to get help.
Anyway enough of this - I want today to be a positive day about what I do well and how to keep moving forward.
Sunday, 12 October 2008
More Walt
When I read the book, the biography famous,
And is this then (said I)what the author calls a man's life?
And so will some one when I am dead and gone write my
life?
(As if any man really knew aught of my life,
Why even I myself I often think know little or nothing of
my real life,
Only a few hints, a few diffused faint clews and indirections
I seek for my own use to trace out here.)
I have just read a biography of James Herriot and somehow this poem seems appropriate. I grew up loving the Herriot books and dreaming of being a vet even though I know I could never deal with the cruelty and the suffering. So I found this book at a campsite where you could swap and pick up books and thought it would be good to read. But in many ways it was upsetting as the author seemed to have to make us readers see the 'real' James Herriot 'Alf' as a mere human with human foibles, in explaining he didn't always tell the truth about his stories. And it made me annoyed. Alf was a writer, he made things up for a living and if sometimes as he got older fact and fiction blurred did it really matter? Not to me I have to say. Apart from a wonderful biography on Amy Johnson that I loved and searched for any possible detail of my grandfather most biography have been a real disappointment to me. So I guess the moral is I should not read them, or perhaps only read ones that are historical, where I don't have an image of the person involved.
Saturday, 11 October 2008
More Walt and a recovered photo
You who celebrate bygones,
Who have explored the outward, the surfaces of the races,
the life that has exhibited itself,
Who have treated of man as the creature of politics,
aggregates, ruler and priests,
I, habitan of the Alleghanies*, treating of him as he is in
himself in his own rights,
Pressing the pulse of the life that has seldom exhibited itself,
(the great pride of man in himself,)
Chanter of Personality, outlining what is yet to be,
I project the history of the future.
*Allegheny Mountains
–plural noun
a mountain range in Pennsylvania, Maryland, West Virginia, and Virginia: a part of the Appalachian Mountains.
Also called Al·le·ghe·nies.
Walt Whitman
The Complete Poems
A walk on the beach
I take my dog for a walk on the beach nearly every day. Every day that weather allows anyway. Today was a beautiful day, the weather was really warm for October and it was really warm. The sun shone straight accross the sea, above the offshore windfarm on to the beach, so brightly it was blinding.
A walk on the beach always calms me down and makes me aware of the awesome power and beauty of nature. Somedays there is just me and the dog and it feels wonderful. Most mornings I meet a growing number of people who walk on the beach daily, some with their dogs, others just for the exercise, people like Neville, and Busters dad, the lady who always wears a coat even when it is sunny, the man with the equally barking dog, Colin, Ben's dad, the lady with the elderly golden labrador who always calmly ignores my dog and keeps plodding on.
Today as I was walking along I suddenly got a really strong smell of smoke. There was no smoke, just an incredibly strong odor. It felt so out of place, like it shouldn't be there, it shouldn't be poluting this wonderful sea air. And where did it come from. I guessed, correctly as it happens, that it came from the cliff top (dune top) but it was so strange to have such a strong smell with no smoke. You really can have the smell of fire with out the smoke.
And it made me a bit angry - I didn't want it to be there - I didn't want this human smell to be poluting my seaside, my sea smelling shore with the cleansing air and powering tides.
When I walked up the cliff to make my way home I found the source of the smell, builders clearing a derelict house that will be better cleared and tidied but even this did not make me glad to have fire smokey smells on my beach.
Friday, 10 October 2008
More on Walt plus others blogs
Thursday, 9 October 2008
Today is National Poetry Day
Conservation Piece
The countryside must be preserved!
(Preferably miles away from me.)
Neat hectares of the stuff reserved
For those in need of flower or tree.
I'll make do with landscape painting
Film documentaries on TV.
And when I need to escape, panting,
Then open-mouthed I'll head for the sea.
Let others stroll and take their leisure,
In grasses wide up to their knees,
For I derive no earthly pleasure
From the green green rash that makes me sneeze.
Roger McGough
Collected Poems
A poem dedicated to my beautiful little dog Dobbie who appears to be allergic to grass - it makes her little belly sore and red and she keeps chewing her feet.
And the second is by a poet that I am just discovering. I used this poem for a piece of Uni work and it has always impacted me even though I am not sure I truly understand it. I used it to make a visual web site linked to a piece of fiction about a mother and daughter.
To One Shortly to Die
From all the rest I single out you, having a message for you,
You are to die - let others tell you what they please, I
cannot prevaricate,
I am exact and merciless, but I love you - there is no escape
for you.
Softly I lay my right hand upon you, you just feel it,
I do not argue, I bend my head close and half envelop it,
I sit quietly by, I remain faithful,
I am more than nurse, more than parent or neighbour,
I absolve you form all except yourself spiritual bodily, that
is eternal, you yourself will surely escape,
The corpse you will leave will be but excrementitious.
The sun bursts through in unlooked-for directions,
Strong thoughts fill you and confidence, you smile,
You forget you are sick, as I forget you are sick,
You do not see the medicines, you do not mind the weeping
friends, I am with you,
I exclude others from you, there is nothing to be
commiserated,
I do not commiserate, I congratulate you.
Walt Whitman
The Complete Poems
I want to know more about these poets works.
I want to feel more.
Wednesday, 8 October 2008
Another hideous day over
Today was my last session on CBT therapy and it went well - I have definitely started to feel better but the million dollar question is can I manage without my sessions. They have helped me understand much about myself and my illness and what has changed since I was last ill five years ago but they have also been an outlet, a place to release the stress of my work situation and without that next week and am concerned at how I will manage. I realise that the situation is not my fault - that you can't make people be kind and compassionate - you can't make people like you - only just get through life the best I can.
Never mind the weekend is nearly here and that is always a good thing. I can make it through the next two days and then rest and sleep and do lots of housework and tidy the garden and write letters and and and. Do I really want the weekend to come?
I really need to read a good book. I have finished a couple recently and haven't started to anything new and I need to. I must sort through my 'books to read' pile and pick one I fancy. Maybe something not too heavy and not too long. Maybe that is not the best reason to read a book but it is an ok reason because at least I am reading something.
Anyway my bed is calling. See ya.
It's wednesday again
On the beach today I saw a stick that looked exactly like a slug. It was brown and slimy and thicker in the middle than the ends. I had to kick it with my foot to see if it was a large slug that wiggled and slide away. Or a stick. I was so disappointed when it just rolled, stiff and stick like, away down the dunes.
Dih
Tuesday, 7 October 2008
More Spike and me
Confused Brain
I hope this is going to be a better day
than it feels
I couldn't sleep for worry
Then I couldn't wake my mind.
Am I well at all
Or is it just my brain confusing me.
Monday, 6 October 2008
Jesus in the toilet
Jesus in the toilet
In my friend's toilet
just above her cistern
sits a picture of Jesus.
A rectangular picture of a man
in a mock wooden frame
who looks like the global iconic image
of Jesus.
This man is caucasion and bearded
with piercing blue eyes
that follows my descending underwear
and taunts my streaming bum.
He stares at me whilst I wee.
As I urinate into the bowl
I feelthe eyes burning into my back
and assessing my bits.
My friend says 'It's not Jesus.
It's just a man with a beard.'
And wonders why her visitors have
such a obsession with the painting
in the toilet
But if all of us think it is Jesus
staring down from above the cistern
Then might it be Jesus
and a man with a beard.
Dih
I hope I can make this better but if anyone is reading this blog I would love to know what to do to make it a poem. What to do to make it better?
Friday, 3 October 2008
Poetry and Words
The drab voiced domain of intellectuals
who freely tell you what is not
but never tell you what it is.
Dih
Anger
It was really interesting to understand how angry grows and how the physical symptoms are very recognisable and so can be stopped before getting too strong. Also to understand that some anger is healthy (part of fight or flight) but even then it should be controlled into a positive outlet.
My situation at work has made me very angry, this is becoming an obsession and then it is making me ill. So a solution is possible. Stop being so angry. Should I forgive the person who I feel has wronged me? And is that forgiveness a way of taking back control in a healthy way or it is just a way of being superior to the other person. (That old martyr for the cause or just want to be immortal arguements). But the truth is it doesn't matter because if it makes me well and it makes my life easier and happier then that is ok.
Don't get me wrong some anger is necessary - you have to be able to stand up for yourself otherwise you just become a doormat and others will take advantage. I believe this can't be helped it is our nature as human beings. But you can tell people that their behaviour is not acceptable in a way as to make it clear how you are feeling but without causing greater upset and politely getting your point accross.
I know if I control my anger I will control my obession and then not become so ill and stressed. Also in the program Griff looked at alternative methods to help you deal with anger like physical activity (in his case boxing) but I realised that I could use the Wii to help me physically work out and that walking the dog on the beach already helps. And Buddist meditation. I have wanted to go back to meditating for some time and I feel that will help. This weekend I am going to get my book and tapes out and have another go. It made me feel so wonderful before and certainly helped my mood and illness. And the quiet time is so lovely - trouble was I kept falling asleep.
I really think this program should be shown to everyone to allow them to think about their anger and how they might deal with it better.
Anyway enough of that for now - just go and watch this program online if you can - it is so worth it. In fact I wish I had kept both parts to watch again when I start to feel angry.
A goodbye to my anger (maybe)
Thursday, 2 October 2008
God I'm tired
Hey, I have another busy day today and I am really tired already. I feel like my head and my heart is going to explode but I have to just keep going. I wish my life was easier; I wish I could make my life easier; I wish I enjoyed my life more. When I think about this I am the only one that can make this happen - and I should. I have before - I can again (I wish i would automatically capitalise in this blog!).
I went to bed at 8.00 pm last night and finished my book and then slept for 11 hours. It was a disastrous evening and I want to put it behind me, be proactive and move on. - No probs.
A few words of Spike to finish I think.
THE FUTURE
The young boy stood looking up the road
to the future. In the distance both sides
appeared to converge together. 'That
is due to perspective, when you reach
there the road is as wide as it is here,'
said an old wise man. The young
boy set off on the road, but,
as he went on, both sides of the
road converged until he could
go no further. He returned to ask
the old man what to do, but
the old man was dead.
Wednesday, 1 October 2008
Amazing images
The desire for advancement, both personal and career-wise, could cause you to consider the possibility of furthering your education in some way, Diana. Someone close to you, probably a woman, could wake you up to the advantages of actually returning to school and getting an advanced degree. You may want to wait a little bit before actually deciding, but something has shifted within you and it's time for some kind of change. Be prepared!