Callum McLaughlin's Blog, page 75

War

We cannot hear a tear fall

but it���s there.

It lives in a childless mother���s vacant stare.

We cannot see a broken heart

but it���s there.

It lives in a father stripped of son and heir.

We cannot hear a life of pain

but it���s there.

It lives in infants to whom a smile is rare.

We cannot see a world of darkness

but it���s there.

It lives in those who think that this is fair.

We cannot find a way to help

but it���s there.

The first drop to end a drought is just to care.

A Writer’s Best Friend?

An accurate reflection of my face over the last few days.

I���m not the first to say it and I doubt I���ll be the last, but technology really can be both a blessing and a curse. There���s no doubt when it comes to convenience, access to information, support and speed of use that computers have become an invaluable aid to writers, but I can tell you first hand that getting a new laptop up and running and transferring all important documents while in the midst of a project is not much fun. Alas, we struggle on and it seems the new computer may finally have been tamed ��� despite some early resistance.

Sorry there���s not much of an update today but things should get going more smoothly again from now. I hope you���re all being far more productive and successful than I am.

Society

Conforming to old lies,

suppressing tribal cries ���

You did this to me.

Reforming broken dreams,

concealing stubborn screams ���

You did this to me.

But beneath a cage of ribs

my withered heart beats on.

I will live for me.

Poetry in Music

Bj��rk, Vienna Teng, Florence Welch and S��ley – A few of my favourite songwriters.

It���s very common for writers to be asked who inspires them and while most will ponder over the great literary classics and modern boundary-pushers, I find myself just as quickly turning to songwriters. It���s an art form that I feel is often sadly overlooked and underappreciated but the more I���ve thought about it, the more I see why it actually makes perfect sense that lyricists provide so much inspiration for my own work.

Poetry is undoubtedly a huge part of my life and those who know me will also tell you how important music is to me. The songs that really stay with me and provide escapism to rival my favourite books are the ones that read like poetry in their own right. Be it a specific line, a general mood and atmosphere they create or the resonance of a sentiment behind the words, artists like Bj��rk, Vienna Teng, Florence Welch and S��ley have been huge sources of motivation.

To take the humble word and pair it with a melody capable of transcending the listener to a whole other frame of mind is no mean feat. So whether fans of their musical styles or not, I would recommend��lovers of poetry explore their lyrics.

Which songwriters��� work do you admire?

Blind

A flower without the sun

A doe that���s on the run

Untapped possibility.

A maiden in a cage

Lured by Serpent���s rage

Misguided volatility.

She���ll hide her fear with bruises

Though it���s herself she loses

Heartache a probability.

For love is blind and cruel

It treats her like a fool

Belies her own fragility.

Introspection

Don���t let that glaze of sorrow blind you,

there���s beauty to behold in the darkest of shadows

if only you know where to shine the light.

It���s easy to sit by your homely frontier

and peer out at carnage from a shield of glass,

their wickedness ��� clear as windows themselves;

condemned to be an introvert.

But no, it���s true courage that sees you peel back the barricade

and step upon an uneven path,

hidden from view by a menacing fog

in a quest to prove yourself wrong.

It���s there, but are you brave enough to look?

Let’s Read

Let’s all support our fellow bookworms

To kick off one of my reading goals right away (which is to set and complete my first year-long reading challenge) I set myself the target of finishing 40 books by the end of 2015. I���ve seen that most people tend to go for 50, since it���s a nice rounded figure and equates to more or less a book a week. Given however that until now I���ve never monitored the rate at which I actually read, I decided to be a little more modest to test the waters as it were.

If you have a reading challenge, I���d love to know what your goals are, and by all means add me on Goodreads so we can cheer each other on as we make progress through the year.

 

Love is Pain

callummclaughlin:

I shared a poem over on The Write Stuff. It’s a great blog for lovers of the written word in any form so feel free to head on over and take a look.

Originally posted on The Write Stuff:

In the hush of babbling brooks

She whispers.

In the call of graceful gulls

She whispers.

In the song of whistling winds

She whispers.

Her slight and humble voice

It falls on deafened ears.

And yet she dwells in sorrow ���

Generous stupor.

A Mother���s selfless blindness

To faults of sons and daughters.

���

I hope you all had a wonderful New Year and wish you success and happiness for 2015. Apologies for the apparent randomness of this poem ��� I���d been enjoying the beauty of the scenery at this time of year recently and this emerged as a response. Given Marcia���s earlier call for us to share what we���ve been working on, I thought I���d post it all the same.

Thanks for reading,

Callum

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Firework

Happy New Year!

Exploding ecstasy

Sky-bound spectrums

Mingling with stars

–

I hope you all have a happy, healthy New Year. I’ll see you around on the blogosphere in 2015.

Writerly Resolutions

What do you hope to achieve in 2015?

It���s just a quick post today to say that I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas ��� If it was anything like mine, you���ll have spent a lot of time with family and almost definitely have eaten far too much food. As this year now approaches its end and we enter 2015, it seems appropriate to start thinking about resolutions. I���m not one to set myself really strict New Year goals per se, but I do have a few reading and writing related targets in mind. I aim to:

Publish my first collection of poetry.
Write my next full-length piece of fiction.
Set (and with any luck complete) my first proper year-long reading challenge.
Continue to incorporate a wide variety of books into my reading (adult, YA, poetry and children���s literature).

Do you have any hopes for your reading or writing next year?