Red

We stare at each other
In total eye contact
Absorbed in the stare that is
Primitive,
Challenging,
Uncomfortable.

Bodies parallel in drama
Our hands high five frozen
In a single slap
Our bodies stretched out that is
Threatening
Intimidating
Tense.

The music pulsates us
To the next move
Where both hand held tight
Defying the sound
To step away, staring
Eye to eye that is
Defiant
Uneasy
Unnerving.

A slight smile flickers on our mouths
Yet our eyes stay focused,
Stay serious, we work, we move
In time to the rhythm of the music, that is
Primal
Bold
Apprehensive.

We circle, faraway and shoulder to shoulder,
An image of menace,
A form of contact,
Locked in combat
Empowering
Engaging
Brave
Physical Theatre.


By
DiH

I would love some feedback on this piece. What does it say to you? What are you thinking?

Bob's Dead

Bob’s Dead

Bob’s said ‘Mike is dead.’

‘How do you know that?’

‘I dunno.’

‘Oh’

‘But Bob’s dead too.’

by DiH

A very hectic week

This week has just flown by. I had my first roadshow with work which was amazing and very busy. I had my first performance, which went ok but I wish it had been better, I wish I had done a little better. I know I must learn from this and work towards being better.

Then I have worked and today I have an important visitor coming and I am scared. This man had the power to change our life, whatever his decision our lives will change. We haven't met him yet and I am worried I will not like him and that he may not like us. I also have this strange feeling that he is not actually going to turn up today. (Let's hope my intuition is wrong this time).

Then I am going away for the weekend to relax in the sun (yes the weather is going to be good!) and read and hopefully write.

Another week passed - another to come.

Oh flipping heck (or words to the effect)

I have just had a frustrating morning. I am trying to get the lawn cut and some more tidying in the garden and it keeps raining. The weather forecast said 'showers' and unfortunately they got it right.

I have been to the hairdresser and now I am not sure I like the cut. It just seems a little middle aged but hey, I am middle aged but I think I wanted something a bit more funky and easy to look after. What my son in law calls my lesbian look.

In between these two I have typed up some invoices for the business, they went ok and typed up the start of a story I am writing. My friend, http://curiouslyspeaking.blogspot.com/ wants me to bring round some writing tonight so that we can discuss it. I had some free time on Thursday and have written the beginning of a short story provisionally called The Look, or Disappeared, or Stare (I am terrible with titles and always hope something jumps out the text whilst writing). Anyway I typed up 350 ish words before going to the hairdresser and then about the same again when I came home. Best part of 700 words is not bad going for me at mo.

Any way I just went back to add some more and found the only the first 350 words had saved. What a pain. I had done some editing whilst typing it up and now all that will be gone as well. This is so frustrating.

I have written about another 100 words but not sure I have the time, or the inclination to type it all up again. Suppose I ought to really.

I really want to finish this story and maybe blog it (not sure if I want to submit it somewhere. If I blog my work does that mean it has been previously published so is not available for submission?)

I have done lots of starting stories but never seems to get much finished so was really determined to try and get this work completed even if in first draft.

Hey ho, guess I better just stop blogging (soon anyway) and try and type the 350 words back in.

Another frustration today is that I was supposed to be attending a free evening of music and art at a local park. It sounded ok. But with the weather being so unpredictable maybe we will just stay in and have tea and Morrison's cream muffins. Yum!

Blogging the Weather

I just realised that when the weather is good I hardly ever find the time to blog. I just spend the whole weekend out in the garden, or I wander out there in the morning and evenings when I would spend time at my computer. I love being outside, soaking up the sun, it makes me feel good. But I hate not keeping up with my blogging. I will have to find a sensible balance, although taking the laptop outside is not one of them.

I notice some of the friends blogs I follow are the same. This is good - enjoy the outside when you can - soak up your Vitamin D (I think that is right) and be grateful for the warmth. Before long we will be huddled up inside in front of the fire living it what feels like a permanent darkness. Well dark before and after work anyway.

I love the nice weather.

The Sniper's Journal

The Sniper's Journal

I watched a program about Afghanistan on TV this week.

It showed families morning their children

trying to make sense of it.

Trying to justify their deaths.

It showed a young man with death in his eyes

telling us he is a sniper,

telling us he has killed 19.

19 dead and written in his notebook

because snipers keep count.

19 dead and written in his notebook

because snipers keep a death journal.

And his father, who took him to a firing

range to learn how to use his pistol

before he went on service.

So he could teach his son to defend

himself at close range.

His father was proud.

His father is a sniper too.

It's their family trade.

And it saved his son's life.

It saved his life the day he pulled his burning

best friend from their bombed vehicle.

Another one to write in his sniper journal.

His sniper journal full of 19 dead,

no names,

no descriptions,

just how he killled them and where.

19 dead in the snipers journal.

By DiH

I know I have blogged this before but have put it wanted to blog it again as have send a copy to Mr R.

What a nice day

At last some sunny weather. I can take the dog for a proper walk and enjoy the sunshine. Is is just the British whose mood is so affected by the weather, I suspect it is the human race as a whole. Probably in really sunny climates the rain makes them happy.

I am off to my cleaning job, not the most exciting but it helps towards little extras in life like holidays and going to concerts etc.

Not much to say really - just glad to be alive.

A chance meeting

Recently I had a chance meeting with a fellow uni student. I hadn't seen him since the day I graduated. We met as I made my way back to the car after work and he was popping into the city. After a mutually warm greeting we chatted like old friends and I still can't believe how brilliant it was to be talking to another ex-grad about life our time at Uni and recent creative projects. I was surprised how animated and excited I became, it was like I had so much to say and so little time to say it in.

It sounds like he is also finding opportunities to use his degree and enjoy the skills he has learnt. He, like other graduates from our course, appears to have had a reasonably stressful first year after graduating before sitting back a little and weighing up the possibilities.

He must have thought I was a bit mad, I was certainly 'rabbiting on' like an excited child. After I got home and thought about our meeting I realised just how much I would love to go back to Uni and do my MA. Even though I am happy in work and feel happy in life I think the lessons I learnt in the three years of my degree could be applied to make an MA an even more successful and far less stressful experience.

Anyway Mr R was always a good poet and one particular poem always stayed with me, in fact, I printed off a copy from the forum and kept it. Now he has posted this poem up on YouTube for you all to hear.

Please follow the link -- it is a worthwhile experience.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRag_8YnOyk

Neno's Award

I'd like to thank http://curiouslyspeaking.blogspot.com/ for nominating me for this award. I am really glad that she and others are reading my blog and hopefully enjoying it or it provokes thoughts and discussions or it just makes them mad. Blogging it about all those things and creativity, communication and love (just ignore the hippy bit).

I am afraid that this award has put me in a bit of quandary - who to nominate. I read Curiouslyspeaking and would have nominated her but she got in first.So please accept my apologises for not passing this on immediately I felt it needed a little thought. So I have decided to nominate the person who first got me into blogging, although in a round about way, and whose blogs I have continued to enjoy for over a year.

Neno’s Rules

1. As a dedication for those who love blogging and love to encourage friendships through blogging.

2. To seek the reasons why we all love blogging.

3. Put the award in one post as soon as you receive it.

4. Don’t forget to mention the person who gives you the award.

5. Answer the awards question by writing the reason why you love blogging.

6. Tag and distribute the award to as many people as you like.

7. Don’t forget to notify the award receivers and put their links in your post.

I love blogging as it makes me be creative. It makes me go to the computer every day and either try and write something, or post up something I have found from another author or read other blogs that amaze, educate or amuse me in so many ways. I find myself addicted to blogging and hope that I will be able to continue this. Blogging has helped me become brave enough to send off my first submission and by posting my writing I feel the courage will grow further.

I'd like to pass this award on to:

http://roses-definitelybeautiful.blogspot.com/

and

http://rhhblackthorn.blogspot.com/

Note: definitely beautiful is her new blog but please read some of the archive material in her original blogspot as it is so good. I still think she has a novel in there. I love these blogs because they illustrate so wonderfully a person going through life with the ups and downs, the loves gained and lost and the trials and rewards of being a parents and employee all wonderfully blogged in an easy to read way. I know she thought about giving up blogging and thank god decided against it and for this I am eternally grateful and in my opinion, her bloggs are what blogging should be all about.

Please read and enjoy.

Trying a new layout with no success

I tried to put a new face on my blog but it all went horribly wrong. Firstly I couldn't display the blogs that I am following and to me this is really important to blogging, not just writing but showing what you are reading.

And then the print was really small, my images disappeared and although it looked nice it was just not right. So I have gone back to my original (if not so original) with a few changes.

Anyway unfortunately it seems to have unformatted some of the poetry and bit - so for this I apologise and will do my best to sort it out. Or ask my friend Curiously if she can.

So now I hope to be blogging instead of trying to sort out how it looks.

Will try again later when I have more time.

... sometimes i pretend to be a writer by Ben Shepard

Today I managed to buy the above book, at last. Ben Shepard was at Uni with me but sadly died suddenly in the second year. He was much missed from the course. This book was launched at Norwich Arts Centre in May but unfortunately I did not find out about the date until too late as was unable to attend. His sister has put together some of his writings and had them published.

I always like Ben, I felt that he was very much an individual and not afraid to voice his opinions. I felt he had lots of interesting things to say and was a good student to work alongside. We were not friends and I only had a couple of conversations with him during the time he was a Uni but I greatly respected him as both a fellow student and as a writer. I also like some of his Visual Art work, especially the Jelly full of fag ends and other assorted items. For me it worked.

Anyway I managed to get his book from Waterstones today and have started reading it and have been hugely impressed. I recognise some of the subjects he has written about from projects we completed as part of the course and yet realised I rarely heard him read them out in class or post them on the notice board.

I thought I would post one here for others to read as I feel his work should reach an audience.

I have become detached

I have become detached
An observer through the lens
Of an microscope
Familiar faces have become
Wriggling bacteria
In a Petri dish
Soon I will begin
My experiment


By Ben Shepard

BR - December by Elizabeth H. Winthrop

This is a Richard & Judy Book Club recommendation.

I chose this book because my boss said she was really enjoying the Richard & Judy books and found them good reads. So I had a look and chose this one. Mainly because the story appealed to me.

It is basically the story of a family, mother, father and eleven year old daughter. The daughter appears to have decided to stop talking. The parents are desperately trying to find reasons for this and solutions.

What I liked about this book was that it is basically written from three points of view: the mother's, the father's and the daughters and this makes the story move along really well. The reader feels the utter frustration of the characters, especially the daughter and mother. The story line moves at a good speed through the novel although I do think the ending is rather expected.

I found myself becoming very frustrated with the daughter character at times, as if she could just snap out of it anytime but with hindsight I guess I was sympathising with the parents. This book definitely illustrates the power of family, the anger and the resentments how easy it is for parents and children to loose control in certain situations.

A fairly easy book to read but well written.

A note about the books I have read

For a long time I used to keep a database of all the books I had read. Unfortunately in one change of computer it corrupted and I haven't really used it since. I missed keeping a list and a note of the books I have read even if the idea is just a bit 'anal'. In my defence it used to be a good way of checking which books I had read by a particular author.

Anyway I have decided to use my blog in the same way. It gives me a record of what I have read and also a little review in case anyone is interested. So from now on anyone reading this blog will be able to read mini reviews and maybe pick up and interesting book or two.

Decision Time

I have made a momentous decision and now I am scared to death. I wish I hadn't told anyone my big decision, but I have told my BF and now feel I can't go back. And in reality I don't want to go back I am just not sure how to go forward.

I have decided to try, no I have decided to finish the novel I started as part of my degree.

I enjoyed working on it, I got really good feedback from one tutor (she gave me a mark in the first bracket) and an OK mark from the other tutor (but in reality he didn't really get me or my writing but then he didn't seem to really get anyone elses writing). I know it is a story that 'has legs' as they say, plenty to work on and that the basic story line is well planned already. In fact, it is almost all planned although not down to chapters but the structure is well placed.

So why am I so scared. I guess it is that fear of failure stuff. Can I really do this and even if I have the self discipline to finish the work, will it be any good. I have visions of a million drafts and lots and lots of rejections. But hey, isn't that a writers life. And maybe if I get the bad one out of the way I can move on to something special.

Anyway now I have told more people - I am going to finish my novel.

So I guess there is no backing out now!

Whatever

So many words to fill the pages
So little time in the day
Don't be afraid to fill up the page.
Just write.

Whatever comes into your mind.
Whatever comes into your brain.
Whatever.

By DiH

I have put this piece on my blog before in a slightly different form but this kinda keeps with the theme of finding time to write, finding time to do what you love, being confident to just put words to paper. Whatever.

Instead

I've got so many things to do
each
rushing
around
my head.

Instead
i'm lazing in my bed
with a scruffy dog
lying on my head.

By DiH

Sorry if you have read this before but I just found this piece in some paperwork and thought it was a bit appropriate to a blog that I read. (Have changed it slightly from original though).

And another thing

When I started thinking about things that really wind me up, another thing popped into my mind. I find it equally as annoying as specific/pacific but probably more commonly used. Although I suspect that this word is not technically correct I just find it the most condescending thing you can say to someone. It is kinda saying 'I hear what you are saying but I really think it is of no consequence and that you are complete child to be patted on the head'.

And what is this word, I hear you ask?

Bless

People say this word and I know it should be a nice thing but it just winds me up, I don't think it really matters how it is said the word itself is just condescending and well, bloody horrible. Yet again something that seems to have become very fashionable. I just want to say 'Up Yours' when people say Bless, even when they are saying it to someone else.

It is just me or does this piss off other people.

Ten Minute Window

Garry wakes glancing at the alarm clock and realises he has time to stretch. He rolls over onto his back and pulls up the Navy Blue stripped duvet until only his head remains uncovered.

Garry stares at the ceiling. He closes his eyes tightly and watches the colours behind his eye lids. They change from blue to yellow; from yellow to green; from green to red which then merges into a rainbow kaleidoscope.

And slowly his mind wanders back to the distance dreams and happy memories of the night. And sleep.

Garry is returned to life by the manufactured sound of his mobile phone intimidating his favourite rock tune; the sound reminding him to move with its insistent five minute snooze function.

Life

It occured to me today, that if life is a race than I am just happy to be running and not sure that winning really matters anymore.

by DiH