On my own…..

I love these mornings, I like it best before it gets light, and the sky is kind of grungy. I think the fact that I don’t have to get up and work also helps the, lurve the Universe and everything in it.. feeling!

I always found for me that this time of day is the best for tapping into my creative energy. To try and make the most of this, I start something, poetry, developing photo’s, whatever, and then go with it for as long as possible without letting my left brain kick in. This means I don’t do anything that requires being logical, I try not to answer the phone etc, because once I have to employ too much of the other side of the brain, I tend to lose focus.  My mind is kind of on this little cloud space!  I do sometimes do this during the day too… especially on car journeys when I am not driving. Oh and I tend to stay in my PJ’s… but that’s just an excuse.. pyjamas are my very favourite kind of clothing.

Talking of which, I am thinking of getting rid of all my clothes except pyjama’s….. then I will have a good reason to wear them everywhere..

I recently had a long discussion online, about the fall (or not…) of poetry as an art.

The talk was mainly based around how poetry has changed, and moved from the traditional forms… and some people believe this is a bad thing… I am not one of them…

I love poetry.. I love words… I love people’s ability to use words to move me emotionally… or to convey something, better even than a photograph…and I don’t care what form those words are in, if they work.  I am excited that so many people today want to write, and that the internet has given them an outlet to express themselves… I am especially grateful to the poets of today… because you move me….. and you are keeping the art alive and encouraging others..

Its so long since I wrote anything here… and yet…. I think, and do cool stuff and write all the time! So why can’t I make myself blog it? I think I would like to be able to be more *everyday* with this medium,  more natural, just sharing random thoughts and writings… rather than have to have some *subject* to blog about….

Ok blogging sorted, onto my current very surprising passion….

The other day, I was asked by a friend if I wanted to go for a spin on his bike, *ahem*…. the last time I went on a bike was 20 years ago, since then I have become terrified of the things! When I became a mother I started to get all kinds of fears I had never had before, heights, flying, motorways, motorbikes..!! I guess I just don’t wanna die!! My sister is a biker and loves them, but neither she, nor any of the many friends I have known with bikes have managed to get me on one.

So, at first, I sort of tried to wimp out, mentioned my fear etc, but gee, I have done scarier things.. and  So I went…!  I trusted my mate, and his reassurance that it would all be ok… which goes a long way towards making you feel safe, bit also I have gotten to a point in my life, where I am opening up to new things… it rocks!

The experience started with me being told off for my inappropriate dress, but that was soon rectified.. then I had to learn what order to dress in.. kinda hard to do up your jacket when you have already put your lid and gloves on!! Soon we were on the road though, and within 10 minutes I was totally in love with the whole experience!! I cannot believe it, that I have missed this all these years, especially in a country as beautiful as New Zealand! You feel so much part of everything, the colours and air and smells..wow! Its just exhilarating…. of course I don’t need to tell any bikers this.. you know it all already! I even loved the speed and wanted to go faster and faster!! I am totally addicted, I love feeling muscles you haven’t used for ages, even my bony bum being a bit bruised was worth it!!! I just want more and more and more!! I am so thankful  for this experience, and wow…. that it must have been offered at the perfect timing in my journey! Here’s the beautiful bike, a Triumph Daytona… looks just like a bug viewed from the front with the mirrors like little feelers….

There ya go… yet another passion to add to my collection… don’t ya just love the surprises life throws at you when you very least expect it…

Quite recently I got invited to Plurk…. this poem is dedicated to Plurk and Plurkers….

The Plurk Poem

I never was on Twitter
although I heard the odd word…
I didn’t feel like talking to twits
and I have a phobia of birds

But one day I got an invite
to join a friend in Plurkdom
No twittering feathered friends here
just a monster with a bone for a bum

I wasn’t too sure at first
if I really wanted to plurk
so for the first few days
I didn’t do much except lurk

Plurking can be confusing
especially with a brain like mine
I am never sure whether it’s morning or night
or where I am at on my timeline

On Plurk they pay you in karma
it really can be a bind
in fear of losing this stuff
you forfeit life of the other kind

It soon becomes quite addictive
once you start to follow
yesterday runs into today
and some of us plurk in tomorrow

I began to look for Plurkers
with whom I had stuff to share
Olive oil, photography, poetry
the love of my life could be there!

I found a photographer and a poet
and guys who make mouthwatering food
Lots of delicious links are shared
and occasionally something rude!

There are photo’s of beautiful places
and the yummiest chocolate cake
the techies and bloggers rub noses
with knitters and gamers and rakes

You meet interesting people on Plurk
the wonderful and weird are all here
There’s Oscar and Dylan and Charlie Brown
and even William Shakespeare

So if you need some added spice in life
or just an ear to bend
Come dwell for a while in Plurkville
I may even make you my friend…!

I don’t seem to be very good at blogging… I have started so many and they have fallen by the wayside, maybe it’s because of my paper fetish!  I find it easier to put thoughts down on paper with a pen.. as a kid and teenager I wrote heaps, keeping diaries was a ritual. I couldn’t sleep unless I had written in my diary, sometimes I had three or four!

I have always loved paper and notepads, journals, diaries, moleskines, anything I can write or doodle in. I have been making books and journals since I was 4 years old…just for the joy of it. I am totally and happily obsessed with books and paper. I love the smell and feel of them, the sight of me buying a new book (which I probably don’t need….) is akin to someone choosing a good avocado or melon…. I hold them, stroke them, smell them, weigh them in my hand….I cannot pass a row of journals or stationary without stopping to look!  I wonder if there is a proper term for this.. it’s more than bibliophilia…paperophilia?

I am so innocent!

I just posted a photo I took of a Tim Tam Crush biscuit over on Plurk, and someone asked if I sucked my tea, or coffee, through the Tim Tam… I have never done this, or even heard of it, but apparently it’s quite the thing to do. I even found a YouTube video demonstrating the technique!!

There is a  wiki entry a song about the Tim Tam Slam too….now I need more Tim Tams to give this thing a go… judging by the noises made by the guy on the video it’s an experience not to be missed!

Addendum:
I tried the above mentioned technique as per the video.. I actually watched 2 more video’s, to ensure success.
I failed miserably… I burned my mouth on the hot black tea and the Tim Tam fell into the cup and dissolved, the result was a muddy kind of chocolate flavoured tea with rather sicky overtones!! I should have known, I have never even been able to *dunk*!!

If anyone tries this themselves I would be interested to hear your results!

I have been involved in a very passionate and life long love affair with poets and poetry, and so today is something to celebrate indeed…..

It is National Poetry Day here in NZ… I was lucky enough to be able to attend a live poetry reading in Nelson this evening. It was poetic indeed sitting outside the House of Ales, under the full moon with a glass of mulled wine to keep the cold at bay. We heard some neat poets, including Mark Raffills, Rae Varcoe, Cliff Fell and Rachel Bush…  the variety of themes worked well. It’s nice to know that poetry is still very much alive and recognised, although in a town with a population of 43,000 only about 40 attended the readings, a little sad as Nelson is often considered the Art capital of New Zealand.

Montana invited people to share their poems with the public on their website….. and I saw poems posted on blackboards at a couple of bars in town.

I wish we had more days like this, poetry is looked on by many as a thing of the past, but did people really have more time to stand and stare then? Thankfully for the poets and poetry lovers there are people out there trying to shout out about our art on the web…. I love Got Poetry

To end in a quote from yesterdays newspaper:
quote Jessica Le Bas:

Poems are small stories, tightly bundled.

They are puzzles, sometimes in foreign tongues. The pleasure of poetry can derive as much from the unpicking, the decoding, as from any notion of meaning. The sounds, that juxtaposition of rhythm and rhyme, are a far older joy than our need for logic.