Karen Little's Blog, page 5

Do Not Disturb

[image error]

Crazy Teeth and Noodles gets his Bed

Chicken has been turfed out of Noodle’s new bed. She wasn’t happy…

Noodle’s New Bed

[image error]I bought Noodle’s a new bed…..so here’s a couple of photos of Chicken enjoying it……[image error]

My Assistant has Fallen Asleep

After failing to dig a comfy hole in my Editor’s Chair, my assistant has moved over and fallen asleep on the job. You just can’t get the staff these days….[image error]

The Feed Me Stare of an Optimistic Dog

[image error]

Progress to Date

Sixty-four poems remain in the folder I’ve confidently sharpie-penned “1st Collection’

It has found a title, which I’m keeping under wraps. Five or six poems are hanging on by the skin of their teeth and will probably be weeded out during the next ruthless round of decision making. I have been very ruthless to date: many a ‘favourite’ has been unceremoniously dumped because it isn’t what this particular book is about. Discovering what the book is about is a big step for me, as I’ve not thought about it while writing individual poems. I’ve never looked at them as a group before and wondered what my obsessions are outside the confines of the poem I’ve been working on. I realise that isn’t how it is for many writers: they write to a theme when working towards a collection. But it hadn’t occurred to me I was……..

I’ve been Thinking (unedited)

I’ve been thinking how discovering one tiny thing, one obvious to anyone who has done it all before, can make a huge difference. Yesterday I had several files of poems (the physical kind, in poly-pockets. I like things physical) lurking, filed by date, 2012 to the present. I submit poems quite frequently, so the published ones are all highlighted so I don’t send them elsewhere; I note down where and when published, because that’s useful. But, now I’m getting a collection together, (it already has a home, so it’s a matter of deciding the order, chucking out or grabbing back others if I realise they don’t work together.)

So, the small but mind blowing  discovery? Collate the poems like a book. Have them face each other, find where they are happy to partner up with another poem. So damn obvious, but what a difference it’s made

Noodles is Four

My beautiful rescue pooch, Noodles was four yesterday. ‘Why not tell us yesterday?’ I hear you cry. Well, I’m a terrible dog-parent and I only realised just now……[image error]

Moody Sky, Rough Sea

One day I’ll be at the beach without the dogs, and be able to get closer, and not have the phone almost dragged from my hand. Until then….

Shaping Dreams

 

At the tidal point where ripples run like dominoes

from sea left to sea right, memory offers up decades

of misunderstandings, trying to make things right,

managing to never be right. Reality pounds in my ears

leaving no room for imagination, the crest before anything

happens is the only time our power seems matched.

There’s no turning back, no gentle retreat to look forward to,

just being plucked like a bruised whelk from its shell.

I learn my lesson over and over again, but every wave

is a little different, shifting grains into distinct patterns,

hitting new rhythms, shuffling another set of broken dreams

to fold in on themselves.

First published on: I am not a Silent Poet, 2017