It would have been easy to write in cliches, with this week’s 52 prompt. There are so many temptations that haunt us among stories of ghosts and other apparitions. I wanted to avoid that. Also, I’ve been reading quite a bit lately about insects and about the consciousness in plant life (I have my reasons) … Continue reading
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They cannot purge the song
This week’s theme didn’t really go anywhere for me. I know this has become a familiar refrain, but on the plus side the prompts have mostly worked out somehow, and even when they haven’t done so I’ve come away with a better sense of my own thinking and writing processes. Not to mention a stronger … Continue reading
Making a meal of it
My immediate problem this week has been that I’ve already covered the proposed subject matter some time ago as part of my 52 experiment. Maybe this is always a drawback with trying to follow a whole long string of prompts – some repetition becoming likely, if not inevitable, in the later stages. I spent – … Continue reading
Kneecaps
I’m a little late getting this to press, but the past couple of days have been busier than I expected. Including the experience of entering a shop for the first time in three months, which was far more tense and stressful than I could ever have expected, to be honest. However, the poem… I haven’t … Continue reading
Older than the hills
I don’t think I really met the brief, this week. I know what that means; my partner watches a TV programme that’s a competition between make-up artists, and every week the judges say to at least one of them, “You just didn’t meet the brief”, and it’s always a sign that person is on the … Continue reading
Against
I steered away from seriousness with this week’s 52 poem. If I am honest, I could probably fill reams of paper with a list of “things I am against”. By itself, that wouldn’t be particularly interesting though – the petty grumbling of a poet is usually drowned out by the world, and rightly so. At … Continue reading
You can bury a river
For the past few decades I’ve lived in several houses built on the slopes of an ancient valley. The original River Bourne, a tributary of the Medway, disappeared under brick and concrete and asphalt many years before my arrival, gone down into the drainage system underground as the area was urbanised, but it has left … Continue reading
Scribe
This week I found myself drawn to a local theme of sorts, once again. The Textus Roffensis was written by an anonymous scribe at Rochester Cathedral, sometime during the 12th century. It’s a kind of anthology that includes a record of English laws, various bits and pieces of folk knowledge, history, and so on. I … Continue reading
Ritual
I’m happier with the result of the 52 exercise this week. Perhaps it’s a mood thing, or perhaps I found myself on more familiar ground. Either way, I have some experience in writing material that is meant for a ritual context – chants, invocations, that sort of work – so I know the value of … Continue reading
Almost
One of the things I’ve learned so far from this 52 project is that reliance on memories can easily become a mechanical response to the themes as they arise, week after week. Sure enough, my first reaction to this prompt was to make my own list of personal might-have-beens. Which brought up a few recollections … Continue reading
