Pondering poetry

One thing I've always loved, though perhaps haven't concentrated on as much as I should have, is writing poetry. Mainly I write poems to be obnoxious - "I wish all RV's would spontaneously combust" being a prime example - or I write little bits here and there as a helpful way of reminding people about things  -e.g. My friend Myles said he'd give me coding for a particular statistical test one afternoon, three weeks later it still wasn't in my grasp so I thought I'd jog his memory. I think that one went something like this:

Oh dear Myles Menz, you're my means to some ends
I'm desperate for AICc*
To fulfill my quest for the statistics test
If you have a moment or three
Please send it to me, I'll be filled with such glee
And then I'll be richer and wiser
And I'll work out some trends, tidy up odds and ends
With this new wonderful analyzer

*(say each letter separately)
 - as you can see, very very helpful (coincidently, the code arrived on my desk that very afternoon).

But anyway, back to the point of this blog, I've always thought that one day it would be amazing to write something that wasn't entirely self indulgent. Perhaps write something serious or possibly a book for children. My main concern is that I sometimes feel as though I lack originality and find it hard to sit down and think of something creative. What I think now is screw originality, what's more important is to get the practice in, get words down so I think I'm going to attempt to post a stanza or two of something, anything each week and see where it goes from there.

Conveniently I have a stanza for this week. I was just playing a game of solitaire and it popped into my head.

Will I stumble blindly forwards through the dark and through the frost?

And abandon all I stand for, abandon all that has been lost?

Should I be forever grateful that from my path I have been swept?

In the end it didn't matter, in the end I only wept.

Perhaps I'll expand on it later, perhaps not. I like the repetition in it, I like also like the meter.

What I really want to concentrate on is some sort of fantasy poem set on Nightingale Island. I have nothing in particular in mind at present, I was just looking at my map the other and noticed it and other island in the Tristan da Cunha group and was struck by how dramatic it seemed. I don't have synesthesia but I do like to try and match colours with sounds, weekdays and other oddities, and as soon as I read Nightingale Island I felt like it seemed to be dark purple with silvery flecks. Probably nothing, but I think I'll dwell on it more.

To Byron, Ballina and back with B

Well last weekend saw me on an impromptu journey up north to visit my darling Brendan - the man in question was feeling "decidedly wealthy" so whisked me up to Ballina to see him. I flew into the Gold Coast as he and Jo (his acting partner in their children's shows) had a performance there that morning. It was lucky I arrived when I did, by the time we got back to Ballina, the weather had turned fairly vile - there was lightish rain but very strong winds. One the upside, they made the mysterious sculptures in Ballina seem all the eerier. We headed out to Lennox head that night for a lovely mexican dinner and then prepared ourselves for Byron.

Byrony...boo

I always enjoy going somewhere new, but I had mixed feelings about going to Byron Bay mainly because the dyslexic among us insist on calling me Byrony. In fact when I saw this sign, I subconsciously started grinding my teeth instantly recalling the plethora of emails I receive where my name is spelled this way. This wouldn't be so bad if my name was part of my email address. Despite my misgivings, I loved it there. After wandering around the main street Brendan and I went on a gorgeous walk up to the lighthouse, posing at the most eastern part of Australia we had a wonderful lunch and then lazed on the wonderful white beaches. I love it when there's so much silica in the sand that it squeaks.

Nice shot barring ridiculous hair action

An inquisitive dragon (?)

The Amaze 'n' place

Sunday saw a lazy morning and adventure. Brendan had  been going on about this place in Alstonville called Amaze 'n' place that he'd always wanted to go to. Never one to miss a good maze (although I don't remember going to any except for one outside of Wanaka. I must go to some of the ridiculous ones in the UK sometime where they have to send people in at the end of the day to find lost souls. The maze was fun though and full of questions and objects to seek out. To anyone who mysteriously finds themselves with an hour or so to spare in Alstonville (I appreciate this is rather slim pickings) I highly recommend the maze. Not only is it fun, there's also a pun.In the afternoon, Brendan and his partner Jo had to rehearse and perform their new children's show. I've put in a photo below. I wish I got paid to wear a cape! That night we went for dinner with Jo and Dan (he had been in another of Brainstorm's productions) which was a riot. Dan was an interesting character, after a breakup he decided to hitchhike from Adelaide to Brisbane and blog about it as he went. More people apparently read his blog than he anticipated and he was contacted by a fellow from SBS offering him $30k to do the thing again and get it on film. Not bad for something done on a whim!

All for now!
B