Kathleen Jones's Blog, page 45
March 12, 2014
Norman Nicholson at Words by the Water
Words by the Water festival of books and ideas is always a lovely event. It takes place in the Theatre by the Lake in Keswick, with Derwentwater just a short stroll from the door, and this year the weather has been spectacular! Apart from the stunning scenery, there are lots of celebrities taking part - Michael Rosen (who was very, very funny), Princess Michael of Kent, Pat Barker, Melvyn Bragg, Blake Morrison and lots more. But there's always room for more modest contributions. Unlike many of the other big literature festivals Words by the Water invites independently published authors too.
On Sunday night they put on an event in the main theatre to celebrate Norman Nicholson's centenary. I was invited to talk about the biography and poet Neil Curry, who edited Norman's collected poems for Faber, read some of the poetry before a showing of Melvyn Bragg's South Bank film. The size of the event made me very nervous - would I remember what to say? Would the powerpoint work?
We had a lovely audience, many of whom had known Norman, and they seemed to enjoy both the talk and the poetry reading. I was given some interesting anecdotes afterwards which might go into the next edition of the book. And lots of people bought the biography - there's nothing more comforting for an author than a queue at the signing table. And nothing more depressing than sitting with pen poised to find that there are no people! Went home absolutely knackered, but very relieved.
I will be buying lots of books as a result of meeting their authors at the festival - Michael Rosen's Alphabetical - on the history of the alphabet, and also Katie Waldegrave who has written a new book about the children of Wordsworth and Coleridge - The Poets' Daughters .
On Sunday night they put on an event in the main theatre to celebrate Norman Nicholson's centenary. I was invited to talk about the biography and poet Neil Curry, who edited Norman's collected poems for Faber, read some of the poetry before a showing of Melvyn Bragg's South Bank film. The size of the event made me very nervous - would I remember what to say? Would the powerpoint work?
We had a lovely audience, many of whom had known Norman, and they seemed to enjoy both the talk and the poetry reading. I was given some interesting anecdotes afterwards which might go into the next edition of the book. And lots of people bought the biography - there's nothing more comforting for an author than a queue at the signing table. And nothing more depressing than sitting with pen poised to find that there are no people! Went home absolutely knackered, but very relieved.
I will be buying lots of books as a result of meeting their authors at the festival - Michael Rosen's Alphabetical - on the history of the alphabet, and also Katie Waldegrave who has written a new book about the children of Wordsworth and Coleridge - The Poets' Daughters .
March 10, 2014
Poetry in Progress - Haida Mythology
I was asked to be part of the Poetry section of The Writing Process blog tour by
Abegail Morley (The Poetry Shed)
- she has a fascinating account of what she's currently working on, and so does
Robin Houghton (PoetGal)
who was also reading at the Albion Bookshop on Thursday.
Bill Reid - Raven Steals the Light
1. What am I working on at the moment?
For the past two years I've been exploring the mythology of the Haida First Nation people of Canada who lived on the islands called the Haida Gwaii - renamed by Europeans as the Queen Charlotte Islands. I'm particularly interested in the Raven creation myths and have been writing several poems based on these (some published in the Entanglements Anthology of Eco-poetry). An anthropologist called John Reed Swanton visited the islands at the beginning of the 20th century, learned their language and wrote down as much of their oral literature as he had time for, so there's a big (until recently neglected) archive of stories and poems. The poet Robert Bringhurst has done a great deal of work on these and I found his book 'A Story as Sharp as a Knife' a life-changing book. It may sound stupid but it was the first time I'd really thought about the fact that our ideas of poetics - language, structure and form - come from Europe and the East, and that there are alternative literary traditions we could be working with.
Bill Reid
I find Haida artwork particularly beautiful and I'm fascinated by the way their stories are told in images within it. There are two particularly wonderful Haida artists - one of them is Bill Reid, born in 1920 .
And the other is a man whose European name was Charles Edenshaw, who was born in 1839, before European immigrants destroyed Haida culture.
Charles EdenshawThere has just been a huge
exhibition of his work
in Vancouver, which I was gutted not to have been able to see. I've had to be content with the catalogue, which is a thing of beauty in itself. His daughter Florence Edenshaw Davidson has a fascinating autobiography called
During my Time: A Haida Woman
.
A chest carved from Argillite by Charles Edenshaw2. How does my work differ from others?
There aren't many poets working with mythology in this particular way. It's not re-translating or re-interpreting exactly, but exploring the mythologies for the things they can tell us that are relevant to our lives now. People who successfully lived off the land and sea in quite extreme conditions without destroying their environments have a lot to say about the way we live. One day we may have to go back to subsistence living and we may need the knowledge that they had. It's also a personal resistance to the 'givens' of the consumerist society that we live in now. There's a disconnection with the natural world we depend on and are part of. It's not a resource to be plundered and exploited - it's a life-capsule. Ancient cultures understood this.
Bill Reid - Octopus
3. Why am I writing about this?
Part of the answer is above. I'm concerned about how human beings can survive in the future; concerned about the world we're destroying. But it's also because the Haida mythology has a fascination for me that I can't quite explain. I love their art work and I love their stories - many of which have cultural significance that has been lost, so there is a mystery at the heart of the story. One of the stories involves Raven paddling out to steal vaginas for the women of the island, but after several attempts (when the men in the canoe are overcome with 'sweetness' and unable to function) a creature called 'fungus man' is tied into the stern of the canoe to operate the paddle. So the women got their vaginas. This beautifully carved plate shows fungus man wide-eyed at the rear of the canoe and raven at the front.
4. How does the writing process work?
I write quite a lot of prose as well as poetry and it's not easy to find enough time for both. With the Raven poems I have to spend time researching and reading before I can write, so I try to allocate blocks of space. I've just been to the Pitt Rivers museum in Oxford, which has an interesting collection of Haida artefacts, so I'm going to be working on some more poems from that in the next few weeks. I really need to go to Canada to visit the islands, but I'd need a travel grant of some kind for that and arts grants aren't easy to get at the moment.
Next week two fellow members of The Tuesday Poets group are going to be talking about their work in progress.
Andrew Bell, is a New Zealand poet who blogs at aotearoasunrise.blogspot.com
Keith Westwater also lives in New Zealand and has a recent collection called Tongues of Ash. He's currently working as a training manager for the Earthquake Commission in the wake of the Christchurch earthquake.
Bill Reid - Raven Steals the Light1. What am I working on at the moment?
For the past two years I've been exploring the mythology of the Haida First Nation people of Canada who lived on the islands called the Haida Gwaii - renamed by Europeans as the Queen Charlotte Islands. I'm particularly interested in the Raven creation myths and have been writing several poems based on these (some published in the Entanglements Anthology of Eco-poetry). An anthropologist called John Reed Swanton visited the islands at the beginning of the 20th century, learned their language and wrote down as much of their oral literature as he had time for, so there's a big (until recently neglected) archive of stories and poems. The poet Robert Bringhurst has done a great deal of work on these and I found his book 'A Story as Sharp as a Knife' a life-changing book. It may sound stupid but it was the first time I'd really thought about the fact that our ideas of poetics - language, structure and form - come from Europe and the East, and that there are alternative literary traditions we could be working with.
Bill ReidI find Haida artwork particularly beautiful and I'm fascinated by the way their stories are told in images within it. There are two particularly wonderful Haida artists - one of them is Bill Reid, born in 1920 .
And the other is a man whose European name was Charles Edenshaw, who was born in 1839, before European immigrants destroyed Haida culture.
Charles EdenshawThere has just been a huge
exhibition of his work
in Vancouver, which I was gutted not to have been able to see. I've had to be content with the catalogue, which is a thing of beauty in itself. His daughter Florence Edenshaw Davidson has a fascinating autobiography called
During my Time: A Haida Woman
.
A chest carved from Argillite by Charles Edenshaw2. How does my work differ from others?There aren't many poets working with mythology in this particular way. It's not re-translating or re-interpreting exactly, but exploring the mythologies for the things they can tell us that are relevant to our lives now. People who successfully lived off the land and sea in quite extreme conditions without destroying their environments have a lot to say about the way we live. One day we may have to go back to subsistence living and we may need the knowledge that they had. It's also a personal resistance to the 'givens' of the consumerist society that we live in now. There's a disconnection with the natural world we depend on and are part of. It's not a resource to be plundered and exploited - it's a life-capsule. Ancient cultures understood this.
Bill Reid - Octopus3. Why am I writing about this?
Part of the answer is above. I'm concerned about how human beings can survive in the future; concerned about the world we're destroying. But it's also because the Haida mythology has a fascination for me that I can't quite explain. I love their art work and I love their stories - many of which have cultural significance that has been lost, so there is a mystery at the heart of the story. One of the stories involves Raven paddling out to steal vaginas for the women of the island, but after several attempts (when the men in the canoe are overcome with 'sweetness' and unable to function) a creature called 'fungus man' is tied into the stern of the canoe to operate the paddle. So the women got their vaginas. This beautifully carved plate shows fungus man wide-eyed at the rear of the canoe and raven at the front.
4. How does the writing process work?
I write quite a lot of prose as well as poetry and it's not easy to find enough time for both. With the Raven poems I have to spend time researching and reading before I can write, so I try to allocate blocks of space. I've just been to the Pitt Rivers museum in Oxford, which has an interesting collection of Haida artefacts, so I'm going to be working on some more poems from that in the next few weeks. I really need to go to Canada to visit the islands, but I'd need a travel grant of some kind for that and arts grants aren't easy to get at the moment.
Next week two fellow members of The Tuesday Poets group are going to be talking about their work in progress.
Andrew Bell, is a New Zealand poet who blogs at aotearoasunrise.blogspot.com
Keith Westwater also lives in New Zealand and has a recent collection called Tongues of Ash. He's currently working as a training manager for the Earthquake Commission in the wake of the Christchurch earthquake.
March 8, 2014
Wine in a Beatnik Bookshop - Breakfast at Hogwarts
On Thursday night I was in Oxford for the launch of issue #55 of The Interpreter's House, now under new management - editor Martin Malone. It's a cracking collection with contributions from Martin Figura, Ian McMillan, Mario Petrucci, Terry Jones and a mass of others including yours truly.
There was a full turn-out, and readers included Merryn Williams, Mavis Howard, Laura Burns, Sharon Black, fellow Cumbrian Helen Fletcher, Michael Henry and Robin Houghton. A wide range of poetry and poets.
The Albion Beatnik Bookshop in Walton St is one of those Serendipity places where you're likely to find the most unusual and surprising books on almost any subject. And it does great poetry readings - with wine!
We stayed overnight in Keble College, courtesy of University Rooms - a site that allows you to book vacant student rooms at a very reasonable price (B&B starts at £30). Keble is one of the 'modern' colleges, founded in the 19th century with strong links to the Oxford Movement - Edward Pusey, Cardinal Newman and Gerard Manley Hopkins.
The Chapel is very imposing ( a Frenchman is supposed to have remarked 'It is very beautiful, but it is a railway station, n'est ce pas?). Breakfast was like dining at Hogwarts!!
Keble is right next to the fantastic Pitt Rivers museum in Oxford where I spent a manic couple of hours looking at Haida artifacts before boarding the train to come back 'up north' for the opening party of the Words by the Water Festival in Keswick, where I'm 'doing' Norman Nicholson at 7.30pm on Sunday night. Er ... Tomorrow....? Time to write the talk then ........
There was a full turn-out, and readers included Merryn Williams, Mavis Howard, Laura Burns, Sharon Black, fellow Cumbrian Helen Fletcher, Michael Henry and Robin Houghton. A wide range of poetry and poets.
The Albion Beatnik Bookshop in Walton St is one of those Serendipity places where you're likely to find the most unusual and surprising books on almost any subject. And it does great poetry readings - with wine!
We stayed overnight in Keble College, courtesy of University Rooms - a site that allows you to book vacant student rooms at a very reasonable price (B&B starts at £30). Keble is one of the 'modern' colleges, founded in the 19th century with strong links to the Oxford Movement - Edward Pusey, Cardinal Newman and Gerard Manley Hopkins.
The Chapel is very imposing ( a Frenchman is supposed to have remarked 'It is very beautiful, but it is a railway station, n'est ce pas?). Breakfast was like dining at Hogwarts!!
Keble is right next to the fantastic Pitt Rivers museum in Oxford where I spent a manic couple of hours looking at Haida artifacts before boarding the train to come back 'up north' for the opening party of the Words by the Water Festival in Keswick, where I'm 'doing' Norman Nicholson at 7.30pm on Sunday night. Er ... Tomorrow....? Time to write the talk then ........
March 5, 2014
The Wordsworth Bookshop - a great independent!
What would we do without independent bookshops? Most of them are wonderful - crammed with books you won't find anywhere else, with comfortable nooks and crannies you can browse in and even coffee and cakes to consume while you read the stock. Many of them also run excellent author events, and I always look forward to these, because the owners are usually passionate about books.
Last night the Wordsworth Bookshop in Penrith asked me to do a talk on Norman Nicholson and The Sun's Companion with some poetry thrown in. There was wine and cupcakes in the interval - all in front of glowing log fire. Some author events in bookshops are very impersonal, but this was a very warm welcome from Andrea and Jon. A lovely, friendly audience to talk to and I came away with the most beautiful bunch of flowers, having sold some books. Thank you!
Last night the Wordsworth Bookshop in Penrith asked me to do a talk on Norman Nicholson and The Sun's Companion with some poetry thrown in. There was wine and cupcakes in the interval - all in front of glowing log fire. Some author events in bookshops are very impersonal, but this was a very warm welcome from Andrea and Jon. A lovely, friendly audience to talk to and I came away with the most beautiful bunch of flowers, having sold some books. Thank you!
March 2, 2014
The Sun's Companion on Create Space
A box of books was waiting for me when I got back to England a few days ago - 25 copies of The Sun's Companion which we've just printed with Create Space. We thought about doing a paperback copy of the novel for quite a while before we made the decision. For previous paperbacks we've used big Trade printers such as Biddles (in Norfolk) and CPI Antony Rowe. They do a very professional job but they're expensive and you have to order copies up front which sit in boxes in your store room looking at you despondently while they're waiting for someone to order them. So we decided to go for print-on-demand and to try Create Space since there are - literally - no costs for publication.
I was rather worried about the quality of the finished product, but so many other authors are using Create Space I reassured myself that it would be ok. And it is. The books are lovely - beautifully printed and put together. We chose to typeset the novel ourselves rather than simply upload a Word doc, and this caused my partner Neil a few headaches. He did it in InDesign which allowed him to choose the exact look of it and put in fancy title pages. Then he exported it to PDF and we uploaded the file to Amazon. It took about 5 goes before we got it right. Once they've accepted the file you can either download proofs and print them out yourself (no charge for this) or order page proofs from Amazon for a small charge. We just printed out the file and found that quite satisfactory. This is what the title page looks like inside, with the Book Mill logo at the top.
In future we'd probably go for a slightly different format, a matt cover and cream paper, but for The Sun's Companion we needed this particular format in order to avoid a book with too many pages. The more pages you have the more expensive the book is for purchasers. The format you choose on Create Space dictates what kind of paper and cover is available. Overall we're really pleased with the result, which is now on sale in the Amazon store on both sides of the Atlantic at a very reasonable price for a novel of 460 pages - £9.99 in the UK or $13.85 in the USA . And it didn't cost us anything to have it printed. The copies I've ordered are mostly to give away or for review purposes. Local bookshops are asking if they can stock it, so I'll be ordering more copies from Amazon to sell here. Author copies are quite reasonably priced too, even with added carriage costs.
Printing with Create Space has been a very good experience and we'll certainly be doing it again.
The Sun's Companion Amazon.com
The Sun's Companion Amazon.co.uk
I was rather worried about the quality of the finished product, but so many other authors are using Create Space I reassured myself that it would be ok. And it is. The books are lovely - beautifully printed and put together. We chose to typeset the novel ourselves rather than simply upload a Word doc, and this caused my partner Neil a few headaches. He did it in InDesign which allowed him to choose the exact look of it and put in fancy title pages. Then he exported it to PDF and we uploaded the file to Amazon. It took about 5 goes before we got it right. Once they've accepted the file you can either download proofs and print them out yourself (no charge for this) or order page proofs from Amazon for a small charge. We just printed out the file and found that quite satisfactory. This is what the title page looks like inside, with the Book Mill logo at the top.
In future we'd probably go for a slightly different format, a matt cover and cream paper, but for The Sun's Companion we needed this particular format in order to avoid a book with too many pages. The more pages you have the more expensive the book is for purchasers. The format you choose on Create Space dictates what kind of paper and cover is available. Overall we're really pleased with the result, which is now on sale in the Amazon store on both sides of the Atlantic at a very reasonable price for a novel of 460 pages - £9.99 in the UK or $13.85 in the USA . And it didn't cost us anything to have it printed. The copies I've ordered are mostly to give away or for review purposes. Local bookshops are asking if they can stock it, so I'll be ordering more copies from Amazon to sell here. Author copies are quite reasonably priced too, even with added carriage costs.
Printing with Create Space has been a very good experience and we'll certainly be doing it again.
The Sun's Companion Amazon.com
The Sun's Companion Amazon.co.uk
February 27, 2014
Carnivale in Viareggio
One of the great highlights of the year, for me, is the carnival in Viareggio - one of Italy's biggest and best. So last Sunday (my next to last day in Italy for a while) we headed down to the city. It's a family party and a great chance for some dressing up and dancing in the street.
The floats are always awe-inspiring in terms of their size and complexity - some bigger than the buildings on either side of the street - and there's always a strong political message.Some floats are just plain whacky!
Or even scary!!
But the costumes are always fantastic. I loved Neptune's attendants.
This year, pop music was quite prominent, with homages to both Freddie Mercury and John Lennon.
This was one of my favourite floats - a gigantic insect, lit up from within, with moving head and legs - like something from War of the Worlds.
There was a strong environmental message - a First Nation American float featured endangered animals and butterflies -
and there were several that also highlighted the precarious economic situation. The figures of Poverty and Famine were stalking the parades, particularly on this float - The Last Beach
and I found this wonderful money pig having a rest on a pile of skulls beside the route.
Elsewhere, the message seemed to be that the world is being run by clowns - many of them with tanks and bazookas.
As always, it's the people along the route that catch my eye. This innocent little boy sprayed me with silly string!
And I loved this Pirate family - he could certainly give Johnny Depp a bit of competition!
The carnival route is along the promenade which runs parallel to the beach. What better way to end the day than a walk along the edge of the sea. And a great place to cool off tired feet!
The floats are always awe-inspiring in terms of their size and complexity - some bigger than the buildings on either side of the street - and there's always a strong political message.Some floats are just plain whacky!
Or even scary!!
But the costumes are always fantastic. I loved Neptune's attendants.
This year, pop music was quite prominent, with homages to both Freddie Mercury and John Lennon.
This was one of my favourite floats - a gigantic insect, lit up from within, with moving head and legs - like something from War of the Worlds.
There was a strong environmental message - a First Nation American float featured endangered animals and butterflies -
and there were several that also highlighted the precarious economic situation. The figures of Poverty and Famine were stalking the parades, particularly on this float - The Last Beach
and I found this wonderful money pig having a rest on a pile of skulls beside the route.
Elsewhere, the message seemed to be that the world is being run by clowns - many of them with tanks and bazookas.
As always, it's the people along the route that catch my eye. This innocent little boy sprayed me with silly string!
And I loved this Pirate family - he could certainly give Johnny Depp a bit of competition!
The carnival route is along the promenade which runs parallel to the beach. What better way to end the day than a walk along the edge of the sea. And a great place to cool off tired feet!
February 22, 2014
An Early Spring in Italy
We have now moved back from our winter care-taking of Peralta to our little house in the olive groves of Capezzano Monte, just in time for Spring which has sprung rather early in Italy this year, probably because of the very warm weather we’ve been having. In December it was warm enough (well . . . for the English!) to go to the beach. And through January we’ve had days around 16 degrees - up to 20 when the sun shines. But we’ve had enough rain to last for several months. The record was 300mm (30 cm - about 12 inches) in one night. Another deluge last night and another due on Monday, but today the sun shone. The wild plum tree on the terrace is in full bloom.
The Mimosa is also blossoming everywhere in drifts of yellow blossom and exquisite scent.
My English daffodils are coming out and in the olive groves the cyclamen are flowering.
Time for my landlord to prune the olive trees - an arduous and never ending job which he does in his very limited spare time.
The Italians work hard - Roberto has a full time job building - he works from 8am until 6.30 or 7pm every day, plus Saturday morning. In addition he looks after his mother-in-law’s olive grove, and the small family vineyard. His sister and brother-in-law help when they can, but it’s hard work. The children, sadly, aren’t interested, so a generation is growing up that won’t know how to make a living from this land.
Today I've had all the windows and doors open to air out our little house and scrub the floors and do a bit of spring cleaning. Since mid-December we've only been here to feed the cats and check for leaks or storm damage, so the house was in need of a thorough blitz. Sadly, I'm also packing to return to England next Tuesday for some events related to the Norman Nicholson biography. I think I'm going to need the thermal underwear, wellingtons and a sou-wester!!
The Mimosa is also blossoming everywhere in drifts of yellow blossom and exquisite scent.
My English daffodils are coming out and in the olive groves the cyclamen are flowering.
Time for my landlord to prune the olive trees - an arduous and never ending job which he does in his very limited spare time.
The Italians work hard - Roberto has a full time job building - he works from 8am until 6.30 or 7pm every day, plus Saturday morning. In addition he looks after his mother-in-law’s olive grove, and the small family vineyard. His sister and brother-in-law help when they can, but it’s hard work. The children, sadly, aren’t interested, so a generation is growing up that won’t know how to make a living from this land.
Today I've had all the windows and doors open to air out our little house and scrub the floors and do a bit of spring cleaning. Since mid-December we've only been here to feed the cats and check for leaks or storm damage, so the house was in need of a thorough blitz. Sadly, I'm also packing to return to England next Tuesday for some events related to the Norman Nicholson biography. I think I'm going to need the thermal underwear, wellingtons and a sou-wester!!
February 19, 2014
Living on a Precipice
The road out of our village now ends in a precipice, as the landslide that took away the road carries on sliding to the bottom of the gorge.
What started out like this
now looks like this
Where the road was, there's now a cliff face of crumbling soil. But work has started to solve the problem. They've built us a temporary car park in a field, with a walkway to the village, and they've begun to stabilise what's left of the road by putting in concrete piles. What they'll do about the gap isn't yet known. It looks quite a challenge. But the politicians of the commune have got to come up with a solution!
I've been doing a bit of escaping from the rain and the wind and the mud. This is what afternoon tea looks like Italian style! And it only cost me 2 euros 60 cents. Thank you Dazzi Patisserie.
What started out like this
now looks like this
Where the road was, there's now a cliff face of crumbling soil. But work has started to solve the problem. They've built us a temporary car park in a field, with a walkway to the village, and they've begun to stabilise what's left of the road by putting in concrete piles. What they'll do about the gap isn't yet known. It looks quite a challenge. But the politicians of the commune have got to come up with a solution!
I've been doing a bit of escaping from the rain and the wind and the mud. This is what afternoon tea looks like Italian style! And it only cost me 2 euros 60 cents. Thank you Dazzi Patisserie.
February 17, 2014
Tuesday Poem: Everything is going to be Amazing with Jo Bell's 52
Poet Jo Bell had the wonderful idea of running an online workshop that would get people writing a poem a week. 52 is the result and every week there's a new prompt. Jo herself is a fantastic poet who lives on a narrow boat (she's currently Britain's Canal Laureate) which - given the amount of rain that's falling in southern England at the moment is probably something we should all be considering.
The prompts are lively and perfect for sending you off in different directions. Have a look! Have a go!
Write a poem a week! Everything is going to be amazing, because this is the year of 'Quit the dumb shit'. Jo is sharing some wonderful poems, like this one .....
EVERYTHING IS GOING TO BE AMAZINGLauren Zuniga
Put on your knickers, girl. We gonna eat these heavy
decisions for breakfast. Smother ‘em in gravy, wash ‘em down
with Grown Ass Woman Soda.
We got this. This is the Big Girl Processing Plant.
Don’t nobody work through their issues like we do. We swallow
abandonment and cough up independence.
You wanna scream? You see that freight train coming at you?
You havin’ that lead-in-yo-legs dream again? Kick that
muthatruckin’ train in its teeth and do a jig.
That’s what you need. Some Mongolian Throat Singing action
and a can o’ Riverdance. Unwad your drawers, Little Mama.
Let’s go to the drag show.
Bust out yo corset, Sweet Ginger and show ‘em all that bouillon.
We were made for the stomp. We were made out of spoon
whittlin’ voodoo stew. Play those spoons, girl.
Don’t let ‘em take your dysfunction and turn it into a brothel.
That’s YOUR dysfunction. You chop that shit up and make it
into a masterpiece. This is the year of Quit the Dumb Shit.
So, you know what that means?
Quit the dumb shit. Stop washing your pearls down
with swine. Get up off your Cadillac britches and show them motor
mouth badgers how it’s done. Everything ain’t gonna be alright.
Everything is going to be amazing.
[From Lauren Zuniga, The Smell of Good Mud]
Why not head on over to the Tuesday Poem hub and see what other Tuesday Poets are posting today? You'll find it on http://www.tuesdaypoem.blogspot.com
February 13, 2014
My local (Italian) library and a chunk of the Berlin Wall . . .
I'm trying to finish some short stories I've been working on for a while and having a problem with concentration (too many cups of coffee and Facebook visits!). So I decided to spend at least two days a week working in the Pietrasanta library. This is part of the wonderful Sant' Agostino church, which now acts as a venue for major art exhibitions.
The library is on the first floor above the cloisters - a quiet, well-lit and surprisingly modern space, perfect for writing. I think I'm incredibly lucky to have such a beautiful place to work in.
On two sides of the first floor space, there's a small museum of sculpture, which you can wander round when you need a bit of inspiration.
In the cloisters underneath at the moment there's an exhibition featuring chunks of the Berlin Wall painted by European artists - much of it quite political, as you'd expect.
This is a small selection.
And, of course, I'm quite handy for the marble studios and can drop in on Neil, who also has work in progress, to take pictures of him covered in marble dust and looking rather like Coco the Clown!
It's good to be working near each other and we can pop into the bar together for a quick glass of wine at the end of the day. I love Italy!!!
The library is on the first floor above the cloisters - a quiet, well-lit and surprisingly modern space, perfect for writing. I think I'm incredibly lucky to have such a beautiful place to work in.
On two sides of the first floor space, there's a small museum of sculpture, which you can wander round when you need a bit of inspiration.
In the cloisters underneath at the moment there's an exhibition featuring chunks of the Berlin Wall painted by European artists - much of it quite political, as you'd expect.
This is a small selection.
And, of course, I'm quite handy for the marble studios and can drop in on Neil, who also has work in progress, to take pictures of him covered in marble dust and looking rather like Coco the Clown!
It's good to be working near each other and we can pop into the bar together for a quick glass of wine at the end of the day. I love Italy!!!
