Poetry Please

Whilst I was browsing in a bookshop a couple of week ago I came across a book by Stephen Fry called, ‘The Ode Less Travelled : unlocking the poet within’. This book claims that ‘if you can speak and read English you can write poetry’.

I’ve always been interested in poetry - from adolescent obsessions with Syliva Plath via Heaney’s Bog poems on my A-level syllabus to the funny and poignant work of Wendy Cope that has been such a comfort to me lately - it’s all fascinated me. So I’ve decided to take Mr Fry up on his challenge.

The books takes you through the techiques of poetry writing and the different styles and forms, and sets you exercises at the end of each chapter. He usually gives you a topic, a task and the amount of time you should be spending on it.

I’ve been working through this book for the last week or so, and I thought I’d make my attempts so far public for anyone who comes across them. I’ve added them to a new blog, which can be found here.

Be warned, they are on such exciting topics as ‘What I’d like to Eat’ and ‘Pesky Tasks Overdue’, but the point is that it does seem possible to train yourself to various techniques and styles.  Ok, so I may not be heading for a Nobel prize just yet, but just because we aren’t all Picassos, doesn’t mean we shouldn’t sketch for fun, or because we’re not Roger Federer we shouldn’t enjoy a knockabout on the tennis court.

I would say comments welcome, but I’m not sure I’m ready for criticism quite yet!

Mr Dangly

So, this is what I fill my days with when I’m too hungover to think about linguistics!

Original pattern can be found here.

Victorious Wolves

It was feline versus lupine last night as the skies darkened above Finsbury Park for the softball match of the season so far.

Having umpired a couple of games against the top-of-the-table Fat Cats, we knew they could hit, and we knew they had a reasonable idea about the game…so it was some nervous, but excited Wolves who showed up early to warm up, run practice drills and settle into the pitch.

As the away team we batted first. A string of good solid base hits got us on the scoreboard in an important innings. We then held the Cats to nothing for the next two innings.

As is the way with us Wolves, we never do things the easy way - a dip in the middle meant that the Cats put on 6 runs in 4th innings. We then knew that we needed to keep it tight.

We stepped up to the plate literally and metaphorically - got those all important runs in and held their scoring to a minimum. It got a bit heated for a while there over a few close calls. I’m thinking we probably wouldn’t have made the appeals if the game hadn’t been so tight, but all those hours at umpire school have got to be worth something!

Anyhow, after the full 7 innings, by hook or by crook, victory was secured for Wolf-kind!

Personally I got a particular kick out of holding them to nothing in an innings by getting three straight outs at first, but it’s indisputable to say that everyone played a part tonight. Batting sensibly and consistently, holding runners, keeping the force on and getting those outs!

Three cheers for the Loan Wolves!

St George’s Gardens

My academic department has recently moved buildings and I’ve been exploring the area around and about the new location.

Just 1 minute away is the tranquil St George’s Gardens. This was the first burial ground in Camden to not be next to a church. Now, it’s more of a park and less of a graveyard, althought he gravestones are still in evidence around the borders.

The most striking feature of the gardens, which I noticed today is this statue. I don’t know what it is about it that draws it to me, but I’m found myself intrigued by this figure. She really seems to be about to turn and say something to you. I wonder how long she has stood there, and how many people she has seen come and go. I wonder what she is thinking about, as it seems to be a truly introspective, contemplative pose. Whatever it is, I think she’s great.

Coping with Cope

I recently came across the work of the female poet Wendy Cope.

She was speaking on this week’s Woman’s Hour and the podcast is available (at least it is at the moment) from the BBC site.

She is understandably not keen on people presenting her work on the internet for free. You can read more about her views on this here.

Therefore, I’m not going to quote any here, but just recommend her and say that I’ll be popping out to buy her latest book - a collection of her poems - in the next couple of days.

I have particularly enjoyed ‘Bloody Men’ and ‘Two Cures for Love’ which both feature in the podcast, and ‘Loss‘.

At a time where I am feeling sad about the state of my own lovelife these have really made me smile, whilst also taking the edge off the lonliness.

According to Samual Johnson, ‘The only end of writing is to enable the readers better to enjoy life or better to endure it,’ and that is certainly what Cope has helped me do these last few days.

If you like these, you might also want to try Gavin Ewart.

Superstitious No More

So, I’ve long rejected religion, father christmas (sorry kids), the tooth fairy and the like. However, for some reason a few odd superstitions have persisted with me. Wishing on eyelashes, saluting magpies and avoiding walking over three drains (don’t ask) for instance.

However, today I’ve decided to leave all these behind. Why? Because they aren’t true and they don’t work.

For as long as I can remember, I’ve been wishing at every opportunity that I’d find love and be happy. Looking at it sensible that wishing doesn’t seem to have made the slightest bit of difference. Now it is time to leave this sort of thing behind me and make my life that little bit more rational.

In the meantime, here is a picture of a black cat. My old black cat Spells. Not because she was lucky or unlucky, but because she was gorgeous.

Cats in things they’re not supposed to be in

I came across this randomly and it made me smile and laugh at a time when I couldn’t imagine doing so for a long time. There are a few swear words, but still…

For the man who has everything?

A knitted lobster!

Can you spot the difference?

A Thousand Cuts

So I’ve returned to the murky world of internet dating.

I tried it a few years ago and had a great time. I meet some lovely people, had some great nights out and although my heart suffered a few cracks along the way, I came out the other side more or less unscathed.

It is turning out to be a slightly different experience this time. Suddenly the spoof news report that was put onto The Onion website for this Valentines day just passed, doesn’t seem so amusing…but strangely poignant:

It doesn’t matter how many of my friends and family say things like, ‘you’re great’ ‘anyone would be lucky to have you’, ‘it’s his loss’ or ‘I really can’t understand why you’re single’ etc (that last one is my personal favourite - as if there has to be a reason?) it doesn’t make the drip drip drip of rejection any easier.

Each time I decide to be proactive and send out a couple of messages it gets a little bit more depressing as they read my message, view my profile and click delete. Like the news report says - now I can get rejected on my own terms!

When I did it before it did wonders for my confidence as a myriad of men paid me compliments and attention. Not so this time. I’m kind of regretting having signed up for another go now, but I’ve paid my money, and goddamit, I’m going to get my money’s worth of rejection!

Thoroughly Shameless

I try not to blog about television programmes very often, as I don’t want any passing readers to think that I just spend my time in front of the goggle box (in fact I spend most of it in front of the google.co.uk box!). However, every so often a programme comes along that blows you away in the same way that a brilliant book or theatrical production does, and I feel that that deserves some comment.

This happened a few years ago with the first series of Shameless. The second series was equally as brilliant and then James McAvoy and Anne-Marie Duff moved on to bigger and better things and I felt it lost its edge for the next couple of series.

However, the current series is bringing it right back to its rightful place as the best thing on TV. The plot has now escalated beyond the long-suffering Gallagher family, although many of the original characters remain. We have watched Debbie and Liam grow up and the older members of the brood move off to different lives. However, the heart of the series still has that warm warm mix of tragi-comedy that makes you laugh whilst subtly breaking your heart.

Of course, it is possible that the standard has never dropped, but that it’s my perception of it that has changed. It suddenly struck me that the standard seemed to drop during the three years when I was in a settled relationship. Many of the storylines are about love, loss and heartbreak. From Ian finding the man of his dreams only to find out that it can’t be, to Debbie’s unrequited love for the wrong lad, to this week’s heartbreaker with a sober Frank finding true love only to have it snatched away by circumstances. When you are happy with someone, these sort of plotlines don’t register with quite the same poignancy as when you are your own. They aren’t relevant to your life in quite the same way. They don’t touch you quite so deeply.

So if you are one of those many people spending this Valentines day wondering why everyone else but you seems to be clutching a bunch of flowers, if you feel somehow defective whenever society assumes that the default option is to have someone, or if you ever envy those people whose existence is seemingly validated by the fact that someone loves them, then I recommend a hearty dose of the Chatsworth estate.