Not a remake of the spooky Australian film, (1975), but it feels so long since I wrote a blog that I am hoping the catchy title intrigues you enough to lure you back to reading my blog again.
The title also refers to our lock down break out, ( don’t worry just the two of us from the same household), to picnic at Glasson Dock a beautiful little place near home where we sat in deck chairs by canal basin and marina and watch the world, such as it was, go by. I won’t tell you what facilities were open as that might lead to a rush next weekend. And to think we used to go to Spain!
So is this blog going to be about a change of perspective brought about by the virus? Not really, except that I have enjoyed the peace and quiet while worrying about all the other people who live in cities, have lost their livelihoods, or their families and friends. I feel an enormous sense of privilege at having got away so comparatively lightly compared with others who have been through so much.
However in all this I have written and My writing life has flourished. This is largely because my writing group has been zooming every Wednesday afternoon and as a consequence I have been regularly writing poems. So far I have six done about the virus/lock down experience, probably enough.
However to catch up properly I need to go back to October 26th 2019 That is the date of my last blog and since then much has happened. In December 2019 I went to the poetry carousel in Rydal. It was great and I particularly enjoyed the workshop with David Tait. The new venue, Rydal Hall, is very good. Nice food comfortable rooms and close to Ambleside for a trip to the shops (it rained all the time.)
There was a Brewery Poets workshop in January which I attended, but since then no poetry for real, only online. Sadly, the Kendal Poetry Festival 2020 was cancelled/postponed but I have kept my ticket for when it happens, although no one knows when that will be. The arts have suffered so badly in all this that we can only hope that they will recover and before too long.
In mid-February I took a sabbatical from my work with refugees and for a month focused on my writing and putting together a pamphlet/ collection for competition entry. I didn’t win and I didn’t expect to, but it gave me the chance to create a deadline to work to, and to think about structuring a collection. A selection of these poems will now go out to magazines over the next few months in the hope of publication. I will keep you posted.
Then just after I finished my sabbatical the lock down came on March 23rd. The refugee work moved online and on the phone and the spring came as well. So the lock down time has been divided between refugees, writing and the garden/ allotment which last is flourishing in the current lovely weather. It feels normal being at home or gardening but ‘out there’ is eerie and unnerving I find.
My reading life Has also been enhanced; lots of light reading of course to take my mind off what’s happening. I have also found How to be a Poet by Jo Bell and Jane Commane, ( Nine Arches Press 2017) an excellent book and that in turn led me to the poetry of Joelle Taylor and her collection Songs my Enemies Taught Me. (Outspoken Press 2017). I am only sorry I never came across it before as it a truly inspirational book for a political poet like me.
Hare in the Headlights
My project at the moment could be called ‘get yourself out there’ and I am taking a two pronged approach. As mentioned above, I am developing a strategy for sending poems to magazines over the next few months. That is scary enough, but even more so is the prospect of going on U tube to read my poems. We have acquired a video camera during the lock down and I am going to record three poems from my 2019 pamphlet, Testimony, over the next couple of weeks.
Watch this space.