travels in the floating elvis

untitled

2012-01-30T15:47:00.001Z

untitled

and yours the skin as pasture
and i no more than cattle
that lazed my summers within it

these new are no greener yet
i am barren mouthed with such dry grass
that crouching, stalks the harvest ground

here, no backward glance to be
wintered with regret. we were seasons
only and passing, always passing

the boat is dreaming

2012-01-21T15:25:00.002Z

the boat is dreaming

cantors

2012-01-21T15:24:00.002Z

cantors

the gated

2012-01-21T15:22:00.001Z

the gated

it will not stand

2012-01-15T16:26:00.003Z

six months since anything was written here! poetry really tied the room together. it will not stand....

getting the job done

2011-06-18T23:27:00.000+01:00

it's time consuming this blog malarkey, along with working in the house, doing the garden and the whole gamut of cycling related activity except with those other you can at least find stuff, eat stuff and get fit whereas with the blogging it seems a lot of the time all i'm doing is avoiding doing other things. which is a good part of the reason for the slow down in activity on here.

in particular any form of creative work and specifically getting things finished. this week i got a wee pamphlet done that's been in my mind for most of the last year. various factors were impingent on getting it done and none of them included mucking about on the computer. sure enough a couple of weeks and there i was. plus a big chunk of prose work.

setting deadlines, for me, is a good thing. i like a procrastinate, particularly if i'm doing it tomorrow and especially if i can involve a good bit of web searching but in this case, even if getting it done (and not just done but edited and finished) meant a fair amount of mental effort and almost a lack of answers, it was all worth it.

a couple of bits in it have been up on here so i've no mind to put up more, i'm just glad to have done it. i got into this caper in part because i wanted to write things i wanted to read. so this bit of work really is for me. and that so works!

what next. more prose and lots of it. i've got some poetry on the back burner which may appear on here in due course tho most likely not in the next two or three weeks. so it's not that i'm doing nothing, just that my focus is elsewhere.

and that's napowrimo for another year

2011-05-02T14:49:00.000+01:00

so that's it done for another year despite telling myself last year that it would be the last! i had a much more structured approach this year (giving myself a bit of peace seing as i done it three times before!) but was quite prepared not to finished. being a wee bit more relaxed about it helped!

i decided early on that what i was looking for was thirty poems at the end of the month rather than a rigourous write a poem a day. i had notes and fragments of things i hadn't gotten around to sorted out and ready for use( read - i tidied up my notebooks!) as well as anticipating some of the pressure that being on holiday or shifts might provide - such is the joy of scheduler!

i didn't use prompts this year at all and have been putting my involvement with those kind of the back seat for a while. prompts are all fair and good but i was finding they were getting in the way of my own thoughts. which isn't to say in the future i won't pick up on a good prompt just not as frequently. i do like working visually and time on the bike was a good way of letting my thoughts wander - a voice recorder is a handy thing - but, as ever, reading a bunch of poetry seems to be the best stimulus for me to get some work done. that said i'm finding it increasingly difficult to balance reading poetry and prose far less writing the two - it seems to be one thing or the other but not both!

anyway thanks for all the comments. i have several sketches i may be wanting to finish so, you never know the next couple of weeks may see some napowrimo hangover writing, but after that i must get back to some prose!

april 30th

2011-05-01T16:26:00.001+01:00

on the death of a child

april 29th

2011-04-29T19:21:00.003+01:00

the library runner

april 28th

2011-04-28T00:07:00.003+01:00

butterflies

april 27th

2011-04-28T00:00:00.003+01:00

Choinneach at the peats

*i can't really explain the definition of the 'curam' as it applies in the above. 'to have the curam' is to make a commitment to religious (specifically free presbyterian) life but also inlcudes an element of religious revelation. maybe someone with good gaelic can tell me different but i don't think it's translatable into english

april 26th

2011-04-26T20:55:00.003+01:00

bashō as a fish

april 25th

2011-04-26T20:54:00.001+01:00

marion of the heads

april 24th

2011-04-25T00:28:00.002+01:00

in the wind country

april 23rd

2011-04-23T16:47:00.003+01:00

the white field

april 22nd

2011-04-22T12:58:00.002+01:00

note 18 on art reads like a manifesto

april 21st

2011-04-21T09:57:00.003+01:00

that question

april 20th

2011-04-20T07:55:00.003+01:00

bivouac on a scottish hillside

april 19th

2011-04-19T03:22:00.002+01:00

the sail-loft

april 18th

2011-04-18T06:20:00.002+01:00

stones

april 17th

2011-04-17T04:41:00.003+01:00

fathom

april 16th

2011-04-16T02:39:00.003+01:00

a christmas story

april 15th

2011-04-15T05:50:00.002+01:00

helen

potential napowrimo disruption

2011-04-14T18:36:00.002+01:00

it may be that, over the next week and a half, the posts appear at odd times (and there will be more mistakes!)or i don't get to the comments as quick as i might. this is in no way a lapse in commitment but rather that i'll be away in the highlands on my bike somewhere. if i can post (it's raining, i'm in a hostel) i shall but if not (the sun is shining, i'm on a beach) be patient and something will surely appear. perhaps i'll write a bike poem....

april 14th

2011-04-14T06:08:00.002+01:00

the unbeliever

april 13th

2011-04-13T05:07:00.002+01:00

atmospherics

april 12th

2011-04-12T04:00:00.002+01:00

instar

april 11th

2011-04-11T06:59:00.002+01:00

the dress

april 10th

2011-04-10T03:27:00.002+01:00

and we at bed and purest

april 9th

2011-04-09T01:25:00.003+01:00

at the pier

april 8th

2011-04-08T02:24:00.005+01:00

the dictator

never a day

2011-04-07T05:27:00.002+01:00

never a day

Bashō writes a haiku

2011-04-06T03:27:00.005+01:00

Bashō writes a haiku

black book

2011-04-05T06:10:00.006+01:00

black book

and writing again

2011-04-04T00:53:00.001+01:00

and writing again

bathwater love poems

2011-04-03T09:04:00.002+01:00

bathwater love poems

midnight

2011-04-02T00:55:00.003+01:00

midnight

a seasonal

2011-04-01T00:03:00.004+01:00

a seasonal

this way to heaven

2011-02-12T20:22:00.003Z

this way to heaven

bitter

2011-02-09T13:51:00.001Z

bitter

micrographia

2010-12-14T20:54:00.003Z

micrographia

essence vessels

2010-12-14T20:35:00.003Z

essence vessels

the holy woman of colours

2010-11-29T09:33:00.011Z

the holy woman of colours

the white ship

2010-11-29T09:33:00.010Z

the white ship

heaven

2010-11-29T09:33:00.009Z

heaven

monday poems

2010-11-21T23:52:00.005Z

the cyclist reflects

the sea without

2010-11-11T10:44:00.001Z

the sea without

water poems

2010-11-08T07:57:00.002Z

the sculls

a childhood

2010-09-27T12:38:00.003+01:00

a childhood

the wedding song

2010-09-20T00:11:00.002+01:00

the wedding song

a ward palette

2010-09-13T15:23:00.002+01:00

a ward palette

sad the voice departed

2010-08-20T11:27:00.002+01:00

sad the voice departed

the king of monsters at rest

2010-07-15T00:11:00.004+01:00

at rest with the the king of monsters

the three faces of senryu

2010-07-14T16:10:00.002+01:00

the three faces of senryu

i got on my knees

2010-05-19T19:22:00.001+01:00

i got on my knees

cyanotypes of british algae

2010-05-10T17:39:00.005+01:00

cyanotypes of british algae

pictures of anna atkins' cyanotypes of british alage can be found here. haviong a wikipedia for her is well worth teo minutes of your time. the crinolined picture is there and if you click on the link for john herschel (also worth reading, as is the one for his dad and don;t be forgetting caroline while you're at it) you'll find the picture of him as an old man

april 30th

2010-04-30T18:14:00.001+01:00

frost hollows

april 30th - bonus poem

2010-04-30T18:13:00.003+01:00

trumpet

april 29th - bonus poem

2010-04-29T21:11:00.002+01:00

compass

april 29th

2010-04-29T21:06:00.005+01:00

englen

april 28th

2010-04-28T22:53:00.002+01:00

a spring day passes

april 27th

2010-04-27T12:57:00.002+01:00

wires

april 26th

2010-04-26T22:12:00.002+01:00

the elements brought forth abundantly

april 25th

2010-04-25T12:32:00.002+01:00

in the morning

april 24th

2010-04-24T23:23:00.004+01:00

the pool girl

april 23rd

2010-04-24T23:23:00.003+01:00

at the blue window

april 22nd

2010-04-24T23:22:00.005+01:00

the granite

april 21st

2010-04-24T23:22:00.004+01:00

loss

april 20th

2010-04-24T23:20:00.003+01:00

ettrick

april 19th

2010-04-24T23:19:00.002+01:00

at the doughnut stall

april 18th

2010-04-24T23:18:00.001+01:00

the ash

april 17th

2010-04-24T23:17:00.001+01:00

a ghost

a slight gap

2010-04-17T16:18:00.002+01:00

i'm away for the next week so there'll be a bit of a gap in the napowrimo posting. a full resume of the week's work will be up next weekend...

april 16th

2010-04-16T21:34:00.002+01:00

anosmia

april 15th

2010-04-15T09:13:00.001+01:00

flowers, flowers!

april 14th

2010-04-14T08:43:00.005+01:00

it's likely that not everyone will know who mileva maric is. i'd suggest reading the poem, then clicking on the link

found poem for mileva maric

april 13th

2010-04-13T08:39:00.001+01:00

ABCA1 position 9q31

april 12th

2010-04-12T10:02:00.001+01:00

tidal

april 11th

2010-04-12T10:01:00.002+01:00

outland

april 10th

2010-04-09T17:10:00.002+01:00

away for a couple of days so here's this in advance

ETM2 position 2p25-p22

april 9th

2010-04-09T10:57:00.001+01:00

the days

april 8th

2010-04-08T09:44:00.005+01:00

and in that spirit here's -

(bonus) found poem for sarah

something just rose for the briefest
moment from the water, breaking its
surface like magic breaking through
my life - unrecognisable, transient,
but a reminder of what is there

i wanted to tell you about the water's
wrinkled and blemished skin, and how
it never seems calm to me, even on
windless days like this one, but haunted
fallen clouds broken open against the stone
trapped, helpless, bruised by shadows

this is just the waiting while. sometimes
it’s not merely hesitation, or stillness, but
the experiencing. you wait because you hope
the waiting will end. you may think nothing
is happening but the experience is happening.
living a feeling is a use of time

i look up and they're sailing one way. i look up
and they're sailing back again. and i've missed
the magic in their turning. i love the storm but
i am not the storm. and I know how to wait until
the life beneath the water reveals itself to me again

on my way over the hill this morning
i looked at the green sky. i remembered why
i love autumn so much. in between skies, a very
long day and i am closer to god
i look forward to a restful remainder

april 7th

2010-04-07T14:25:00.002+01:00

the teacher sends a letter

april 6th

2010-04-06T09:19:00.002+01:00

what did the poet do

april 5th

2010-04-05T08:32:00.003+01:00

april 4th

2010-04-04T08:17:00.001+01:00

the ecg

april 3rd

2010-04-03T12:31:00.003+01:00

this one's a bit place specific so i've linked up all the references. the first glider one is not current but it does show what was probably the first type of glider i ever went up in, around about that time. certainly my dad flew from port moak around that time

april 2nd

2010-04-02T07:25:00.002+01:00

USH2A - position 1q41

april 1st

2010-04-01T13:06:00.007+01:00

it being that time of year again it must be time for a poem.

am off on holiday around the third week so i'm unsure if i'll be able to post what i'm writing. come the end of the month tho, everything will be there. i hope.

oban haibun

2010-03-22T15:02:00.006Z

so this comes out of a conversation about snowdrops

last minute protest poem

2010-03-22T12:47:00.001Z

revolution

it being monday

2010-03-15T08:25:00.003Z

it's tfe's challenge. it's murder being given lines....

train poems 2

2010-03-07T11:25:00.001Z

in the underground

train poems 1

2010-03-07T11:23:00.003Z

those journeys unsaid

afterlife

2010-03-07T11:22:00.001Z

there was only one other direction to go really....

a beast

the heaven that is monday

2010-03-01T01:10:00.001Z

if there is

the curious world of monday

2010-02-21T17:56:00.004Z

empty your poetic pockets! bring out your dead! no-one said it was going to be pretty.....

the valentine's poems

2010-02-17T09:57:00.007Z

mostly a late response to (hopefully) the whole of tfe's valentine's challenge (this first one coming from elsewhere)

a lament on the death of poetry

2010-02-02T21:02:00.007Z

a response to the poet claire askew's recounting

ghost road poems

2010-01-31T18:00:00.002Z

at the roadside

it is not silence