Month: April 2017

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night-quiet

unable to sleep
I sit by the window
looking out into darkness
into my knowledge
of what lies beyond the glass
my eyes see nothing
but the soft black mounds of hills
given shape by the merest light
of moon and star
filtered through cloud

and there is stillness and quiet
the night-quiet when the wind has calmed
and tree ferns hang their fronds down
relaxing their leafy arms into the dark
while the birds sleep in the trees
there are creatures about
snails edging across the driveway
cats patrolling their borderlands
and a moth that stumbles across this page
on its way towards the torchlight
that lights my pen

 

©clairegriffin2017

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“kill your darlings”

Finally finished writing a poem I began at the end of last year – “killed a few darlings” yesterday – and freed them to begin life in some new work 😊 Phew!! 

It was something I just had to complete – but I feel its been blocking me from engaging with anything new.  

“Kill your darlings” is a phrase I learnt earlier this year, meaning that when revising your work, sometimes you’ve got to let go of some of the words/phrases/paragraphs etc that you love the most. Damn that was hard! But I knew that things weren’t working while I kept trying to include these. 

So – after shifting from poetry to prose and back again, with attempts to merge the two, I tried to be ruthless, kept the bits I thought worked the best, ignored some of the original sequence and rearranged lines and verses, and crossed a few things off completely. It’s taken me weeks !!! 

And at the end of all this – two and a half pages of 11pt verse. I hope I never get the urge to write a novel – it would take me years !!!

What I’m excited about and what came as something of a surprise, is that the “darlings” I had to cull immediately began to take on a life of their own. I felt released by removing them and realised they weren’t gone for good – I could keep working with these initial ideas and bring them to completion in their own right(write). 

I’m looking forward to sharing these resurrected darlings when they’re finished. ❤️❤️

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finding peacefulness

Some days I get home and my head is spinning with people I’ve met, notes I need to write up, extra unexpected tasks suddenly announced – things to do – things to do – and never enough time. 

Today was one of those days – and I could feel anger rising in response to feeling overwhelmed – that’s a good thing for me – I used to just get lost in the overwhelming. 

But anger is not something I like to feel – so – I took my camera and walked outside into my overgrown garden – trusting there will always be something there to help me calm and quietly breathe. 

This beauty looked up at me – pale and peaceful in the twilight. 

Is there really anything to worry about – nothing that won’t wait til tomorrow – for now – I will lose myself in amongst the petals and dream. 


©clairegriffin2017

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April

The first day of the month spent at a writer’s workshop. So powerful hearing the feedback from others, their interpretations, their challenges, their questions. Much that confirmed my ideas, some that surprised. 

Tasked now with the job of a major re-arrangement of text – exciting to look forward to a completed work. I can feel it in my mind, almost see it – but the work of selecting and placing text will be harder when I work on it with pen and paper, even with scissors and glue. Just realised – this work does fit with this month’s poem. 

©clairegriffin2017