David L. Atkinson's Blog, page 114

Poetry challenge - Completely Novel

Stickability
Love is the tender bondthat holds a couple strong.But others around would abscondwith either right or wrong.
Why do outsiders feelthat they have rights to a view.Layers of love they try to peelpraying dislocation will ensue.
It would be fairer for themto provide good mutual supportand leave their personal phlegmfor a less invasive sport.

Respect those drawn in love,glorify the chance they’re taking.Give thanks to all who movetogether and the bond that they’re making.© David L Atkinson June 2014

God Bless

Writing - Passage of time!

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Basil D'Olivera (1931 - 2011)
Basil D'Olivera (Dolly) was brought from S Africa, a Cape coloured cricketer, was brought from S Africa to play in England by commentator John Arlott (1914 - 1991).  [image error] He couldn't play for his home country because of his racial heritage but he did end up playing for England and very successfully too! I bring up Dolly partly because of the sad news that his son Damian D'Olivera who also played cricket died this weekend aged 53, but also because of John Arlott. It wasn't for the cricketing connection either but because of the commentator's other interests.I remember John commentating on cricket on the car radio. My father was cricket mad and would have the radio on in the car whenever we were off holidaying or just on day trips. My first clear recollection of hearing Arlott commentating was while we were eating sandwiches in a car park in Stratford-on-Avon around 1960. He had a voice that was as deep and soothing as a bottomless chasm and drew word pictures so well that you could well be sitting at the side of the pitch.
However, John Arlott was a journalist, an author, a wine connoisseur and a poet. Once again evidence that once you take the first snort of writing you will write in as many forms as you can. I include one of his poems which is relevant to commemoration of WWI.
The Bomb CraterThe night struck lightning from the grass and split
The tufts of gentle lawns; it tore away
The fixed and certain oak, and carved a pit
Harsh as a dagger's knife in blood-red clay.
Nettles and nightshade dressed the wounded land
In wind-responsive folds, their roofs for balm;
And moveless water, with a cool green hand
Has soothed the rawness to reflect the calm.
Resentful of these false cloaks of disguise,
And scrabbling at the crater's edge to climb
Back to the day, the limbless oak trunk lies-
Its roots left deep beyond the count of time,
Its body knotted in the flailing rage
Of gods uprooted for this rootless age. John Arlott I think that the descriptions in the poem point towards the eloquence of the man as a commentator and, as time has passed, there have been few to replace him.God Bless

Writing - 10 things we didn't know last week

News snippets sliced and diced for your enjoyment.


1. The first bar code on a commercial product was on a packet of Wrigley's Juicy Fruit chewing gum.
No prizes for this useless piece of information.


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2. Leaving envelopes full of cash in public places is forbidden by French law, punishable with a maximum sentence of six months in jail and a fine of 30,000 euros.

Please leave some for me!
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3. Vampire bats have lost much of their ability to taste bitter flavours.

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4. Early risers are more unethical at night and night owls more immoral in the morning.

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5. Barack Obama has played golf 177 times since becoming president.

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6. In Uruguay, football players who don't strive hard enough to win a game are called "pecho frío", which means "cold heart".

Does that include biting?

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7. You can peel 1kg of new potatoes in 50 seconds by putting the potatoes in a bucket, and using a hose and a drill.

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8. There have been 418 major drone crashes since 2001.

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9. Before this World Cup, England had never fielded a left-footed goalkeeper - that changed with Ben Foster's selection against Costa Rica.


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10. What helps us associate hangovers with the desire not to drink so much again is the brain's lateral habenula.

Just time!!!


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God Bless

Writing - Happy Poet's Day

It isn't really world poetry day, that's in October, but I heard the above comment (title) made by a presenter on the radio station Classic FM this morning and it made my ears prick up.
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Apologies for the vulgarity but it seems that these days if there is no vulgar language whatever is being said isn't worth listening to or reading! The term is, apparently, in common usage in the UK and Australia among workers - sorry never heard of it - to make Friday's more bearable! It struck me as strange that the words 'happy' and 'poet' should appear in the same phrase in relation to each other. Having read about poets, and indulging in that mad art myself, there is nothing happy about the form at all.  Entertaining, divergent thinking, emotional, pain-filled, clear sighted and more, but happy is inadequate and superficial like so many aspects of modern day life.

Kielder Forest
Poet's respond to the surroundings in a variety of ways and I wrote some thoughts about the Kielder Forest while visiting there this week.
Branches thicker than a man's body,twisting, ancient trunks beneath variegated canopies unspoiledby arrow straight conifers.Broad leaved forest blocking outHis light harbouring no evil threatbut dark.A safe haven for wildlife butconcealing predators© David L Atkinson June 2014

The place generated feelings of desolation, power, life, excitement, fear and so much more but the above was first reaction. If you want to write but have never considered poetry then go look at something, it may be familiar or even mundane, but then list the words that come to mind and write them in phrases. You have waxed poetic! 
So when I say happy poet's day it isn't about leaving work early because the weekend has arrived.
God Bless

Writing - Research and atmosphere

Rather than do my research for a place that figures in my current project, Earth plc, I decided to get feet on the ground.

Kielder Forest is a large forestry plantation in Northumberland, England, surrounding the reservoir Kielder Water. It is the largest man-made woodland in England. The majority of the forest lies within The Border Forest Park with the southern tip, known as Wark Forest, lying within Northumberland National Park.
I went to Kielder because a body is found there in my latest Steele story. I have had a desire to go to the forest since I was quite young and still living in Sunderland. My Dad always hedged on taking me and when pushed would just say that there was nothing to see. I went earlier this week.
I know what my father meant. There were no people to see, no cars, no phone masts, no windmills and no noise. There was nature, acres of it, and it encroached on you like a massive green and peaceful blanket decorated with endless bird song.
The atmosphere that I was seeking was tangible. When writing about a place, if you haven't visited it, there may be something missing. In fact you can make mistakes which it is not right in my opinion to justify oneself with - 'it is fiction!' I recently heard of a famous author whose most recent novel has factual inaccuracies about the c, part of which you can see aboveity of Florence in Italy. I don't want to go down that route. There was a deep sense of 'loneness' and desolation in the forest.

This was borne out by the 12 mile forest drive along a single track toll road part of which can be seen above. This was a good bit! Most of the road is not surfaced and the recommendation is for 4 x 4 vehicles although ordinary cars can pass with care. I spoke soothingly to my Kia Rio and persuaded that it was really a 4 x 4! By taking it slowly I traversed the wooded wilderness in about an hour and wasn't disappointed.
There was wildlife also, a pheasant crossed my path as did a tiny, little vole.  There were signs promising red squirrels also although they were rather like the bears I was promised in Canada last year - missing! [image error]
The bottom line is that when embarking on writing the only piece of universal advice is 'write from where you're at and what you know!' I am pleased that I'm now in the 'know' about Kielder.

God Bless

Poetry Thursday 116 - Sonnets, emotion and power of words.

These two sonnets will tip you over the edge if you're feeling down! I am re-blogging them because they still feel powerful.
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Self-harm!
Taking the sun in a foreign cityHeat and light reflecting the hell withinLooking for someone who can share pityA bridge can offer solace from the painIs there no one who sees the tortured soul?Can anyone plumb the depths of the pit?How can existence continue its goalWhen the depths in darkness remain unlit?The way out is selfishness in extremeThose left behind would be undeservingThere must be other ways to end the dreamFinality without blame adhering
It never happened because of othersWhere is the solace from our brothers?© David L Atkinson April 2012
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Love
Is there any such emotion as love?Two people together entwined for lifeA united pair with peace of the doveOr a faulty bond - threat of coming strife.The real purpose being protection from ageChildren fail to understand the reasonOften with anger, frustration and rageUntil seeing their own autumn seasonWhat of those units where friendship is keyNo permanent paper licence of riteAlways opportunity to be freeNo ‘glue’ but the chance to remain so tight
There is love with all escorted gladnessBut accompanied by risk of sadness© David L Atkinson May 2012

God Bless

Writing - Research on the ground.

I'm not a reluctant traveller, or at least I never used to be, but as I've aged and retired the reason to travel seems to be less urgent. However, since I started writing my 7th Steele novel, I've had the feeling that I want to investigate part of the area that I'm writing about.


I'm featuring this area in a story because it's an area of my own country that is within 40 miles of where I was born and brought up and yet I've never fully explored Kielder. Whenever I've included travel in my books I have usually visited that country and accumulated an impression of the atmosphere which I feel enriches my writing. As I've approached the section of writing that includes the above area I've felt lacking in the 'feel' of the place so I'm off tomorrow, which means no blog for a couple or three days. Of course, it is possible to carry out research on Google but you only physically 'see' an area rather than experiencing it!
SalesIt's been a good day for my latest Steele novel on the sales front as I've managed to convince 3 people to buy 'Castled' today and a fourth person has purchased my collection of poetry 'The Musings of a Confused Mind' which is all very gratifying. Another book and I'll almost have broken even this month!Please feel free to search david l atkinson on either amazon.co.uk or amazon.com Thank you.
Instagram
Writing colleague Claude Nougat has re-blogged on this source of media making an interesting comparison with Twitter. I have an account under the same user name as my Twitter account @dla1950. Please feel free to have a look at the submissions I've made so far.
God Bless

Writing - 10 things we didn't know last week

There are some really weird things in the news this week including a re-visit to Iceland but not elves this time.

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1. It would cost £12.6 billion to issue every man, woman and child in the UK with an owl (and £69.3 billion if each was to get its own aviary).
I love owls but wouldn't necessary want one at home!
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2. Group jogging is a crime in Burundi.

Thank goodness.
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3. Salads taste better if they are arranged to look like a Kandinsky painting.

Anything that can make salads taste better is a bonus.
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4. Courtney Love rereads the Julian Fellowes novel Snobs every year.


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5. Despite not having ears, crabs can hear.

Pardon!!!


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6. The whole of England and Wales - with the exception of the City of London, the Isles of Scilly and Skokholm Island - is designated as a "rabbit-clearance area".

No it isn't a spelling mistake.
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7. The 18th and 75th minutes have been the most common times to score in each half since the World Cup began in 1930.


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8. An admiral's uniform has slightly wider gold braid when it is worn by a Royal.


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9. Some spiders eat fish.

Only on Fridays


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10. More than half of Icelanders entertain the possibility that invisible people exist.

Not elves this time!
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God Bless

Writing - How elves stopped a road building project!

I have a soft spot for stories of the fantasy genre. I'm currently reading Jim Butcher's Denison series and have greatly enjoyed the work of Philip Pullman and others so there should be no surprise that I was intrigued by the story about elves in Iceland.

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"Plans to build a new road in Iceland ran into trouble recently when campaigners warned that it would disturb elves living in its path. Construction work had to be stopped while a solution was found. From his desk at the Icelandic highways department in Reykjavik, Petur Matthiasson smiles at me warmly from behind his glasses, but firmly.
"Let's get this straight before we start - I do not believe in elves," he says.
I raise my eyebrows slightly and incline my head towards his computer screen which is displaying the plans for a new road in a neighbouring town. There are two yellow circles marked on the plans, one that reads Elf Church and another that reads Elf Chapel. Petur sighs.
"Ok," he acknowledges wearily. "But it's not every day in Iceland that we divert roads for elves. It's just in this case we were warned that elves were living in some of the rocks in the path of the road - well, we have to respect that belief." He grins shyly and picks up his car keys.
"Come on, I'll show you where the elves live," he says indulgently."

Just part of the Icelandic legends concerning elves. There are numerous tales such as the headteacher and his families elf. She used to protect his family and as a teenager he became somewhat sceptical but learnt his lesson after a camping trip. The young man went camping with his father to a remote part of the country, the weather was dull and misty and so when his father suggested that he go give thanks to the family elf, he 'forgot'. The shock came the following day when he woke feeling sore and itching covered in what appeared to be blisters from sunburn. 



The problem for the would-be road builders was the Elf Chapel and Elf Church the former which turned out to be a 70 ton piece of volcanic lava. A local lady who communes with the elves held necessary discussions and it was decided that the road project could go ahead if the Chapel was moved!
God Bless

Writing - Digital Dictionaries

I have used a dictionary for many years, almost as long as I've been able to read. My mother taught me to read at home before I began school at the age of five years. 

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Throughout upper school, college and university a dictionary was a constant. As a writer I use one now, quite frequently, but must admit to using an online version. So will printed versions of dictionaries become obsolete and if so does it matter? Well like all change of state of something significant the generations who held the object as being significant regret the change. However, online dictionaries are revised every three months and the results are immediately available so the moderation of the dictionary is probably more important than before. It is essential then that the dictionary we choose to use has a good name.
As a personal whinge, and my blog is the forum in which I feel it is right to do so, I regret the publishing houses using American English as a standard. It is the language of a culture which is different from English of the United Kingdom. The vocabulary is not even the same,
 tap -    fawcett
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boot -    trunk

    bonnet - hood    
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    rubber - condom
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My ex-wife's sister on a teaching exchange to Durham in S Dakota, from Yorkshire, fell foul of the difference in that final example.There are other less emotive examples such as spelling favourite with the 'u' and organise with an 's' instead of the 'z'. 
As an Englishman brought up with UK spellings it is anathema to me to have to change to a system that is unfamiliar. It seems to me no different from saying that you now must publish all of your books in Japanese. Sayonara
God Bless