Journal Entries
Just adding this so I can get my old entries back
Posted Dec 30, 2008
Please move along now. Nothing to see here at all.
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Latest reply: Dec 30, 2008
Becoming a Poet (Capital Pee)
Posted Jan 19, 2004
I have just got in touch with our local Poetry Society, because the next stage for me is sharing my work with other poets, and receiving really hard technical crits.
I thought it would be "oh, yes, come along every last Tuesday, and we'll be happy to see you".
Ha bloody ha.
They are mainly published poets, (which puts me in my place), and they do hard crits (which I can take, and give, to be honest).
She asked me what modern poets I like, and I coughed and spluttered. Reading poetry terrifies me - I am always afraid I am not going to 'get' it, particularly the poetry which tends to win competitions, which to be honest, I don't get.
She got quite annoyed that I wasn't already going to readings, and so on. I said that I had been living abroad for a while, and was starting to put out feelers locally, and that I had subscribed to MsLexia, which went down well. (It was the only thing that did, though).
It ended up with them putting me on the waiting list for the group, and her asking me to send her some poems.
I am now terrified. I have had to choose four poems which will be used to judge me *as a poet*. I welcome criticisms of my poems as poems, but this is much closer to home.
I'll let you know how I get on. Finding a peer group which pushes you is 90% of success in any endeavour, and I am hoping that these guys will do just that.
B
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Latest reply: Jan 19, 2004
"Merry Christmas Everybody....
Posted Dec 3, 2003
Dear one and dear all
One of these fine years I will have a sensible life. Sure I will. But not this one, and by the looks of it not next one, either.
It is ludicrously hectic at the moment. The bathroom has been leaking into the flat below. The reason for this is that when the bathroom was originally done in the 1980s they used lots of plywood and no tiles and, however careful you are, it gets damp. John, who is a waif and stray staying with me at the moment while he does some A’ Levels, and who is hardly anyone’s idea of a waif at 6’5” with poundage to match, is simply too big for the bath. It can hold either him, or water, but not both.
All of which is a long lead up to the fact that between now and Christmas I am having the bathroom done, so as well as all the usual things that make this time of year so special, I am looking at floor tiles and discussing showers with the plumber. I must be certifiable. I cannot decide whether it is a sign of incredible wisdom or incredible folly that I am hotfooting it to the depths of the Swedish winter for a holiday during the first week of the work. How come none of my friends own Caribbean Islands?
What else is new? Are you aware of my cats? In an effort to enforce my plan to stay in the UK more, I bought two British Blue kittens. Brutish Blue Thugs more like. They are now a year old, and roughly the same size as John. ("How many of them have you got up there?" my damp downstairs neighbour asked rather waspishly). Anyway, they are called Archer and Aitken, and they are engaging but stupid, which is in itself engaging. They are remarkably tidy. Apparently everything should be kept under the sofas. I once collected 10 lighters, 12 pens and 7 drinks coasters when I moved the sofas to hoover. On the other hand, what with Sweden and the bathroom and all, it means I am not even going to attempt a tree until much later on this month. A good thing really. We will have the most decorated bit-of-floor-under-the-sofas in England by twelfth night. Oh, and Aitken snores. He is snoring now. Lovely.
Apart from that, everything is much as normal. Most of the mileage this year has been by road, though some of it was up to and beyond the Arctic Circle which is too swank not to be shared. Nice roads Sweden has, in the summer. We didn’t see Santa, though there were lots of reindeer.
On the subject of which, it is time to wish you all the merriest of Christmases and the best of good things for the New Year. Me, I’ll settle for a large rum and coke. And a new bathroom.
With love to my friends here on hootoo,
a broad called Ben
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Latest reply: Dec 3, 2003
Test entry
Posted Aug 10, 2003
please continue to ignore!
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Latest reply: Aug 10, 2003
Test entry
Posted Aug 10, 2003
Please ignore
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Latest reply: Aug 10, 2003
a girl called Ben
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