Saturday & Sunday Scribblings, Scraps, Stuff

It's been a week since I posted here, but because I blog without obligation, I know I don't need to apologise for being absent, but I did wish I had time to drop by Writers' Island, and to chase down this week's location for the Travelling Poetry Show, perhaps to post something, or even to say hello to my pals and just say "Sorry not to have time to visit properly". So, even if I know there's no obligation per se, I feel the gap and want to do something to bridge it, if only by waving and shouting "Hi there" as I rush by. When I went looking for this week's Travelling Poetry Show, I found it's winding up too. So whoever feels the urge will just continue to use Thursday as a Poetry day, and post a poetry-related something on Thursdays. I'd like to do that occasionally.
.

It's been a busy week. My work's finally moved into gear. It took a long time, but I'm now up to my full complement of work, and it's going to take me some time to get a smooth schedule running.

.
My sister came up for a short visit, too, so we had a couple of evenings out, and went visiting. I really enjoyed having her here. I think she needed to come to check that I really, really am ok since losing Trixie. I am ok. I still feel unutterably sad at times, but the times are becoming fewer, and shorter, and I am getting on with all the other things of life that are important for my wellbeing.

.

Last Saturday, I spent at a poetry workshop followed by readings in a magical place,

with a crowd of wonderful poets. There was good food, great music, storytelling, candlelight, tears, and it fed my soul in a special way. On Tuesday evening, I got together with my writers' group, and tomorrow, I'll be away to an afternoon of poetry with a few of Ireland's best-loved poets. (Am I a lucky girl? Do I know it?.... Yes!!)

My camera and computer aren't playing nice together, so I cannot post a picture of the lovely gift that the wonderful Kara sent me. She sent one of her creative heart seeds. To hold it in my hand gives me comfort. It is a beautiful little talisman. AND she sent one of her precious daily lumps - a coyote, with just the energy that my heart and home need with the absence of Trixie so present (if that isn't too strange a contradiction-in-terms for you!)right now. I've put these two tokens on my hallway altar, just where I've left Trixie's collar for now. The lovely reaching out of blogging friends has given me great comfort. There have been emails and poems, and I know that many of you have sent prayers and special thoughts my way. I know that it has all helped. Thank you to all of you.

.

And now.... There's a word used in the blogging community that I don't particularly like, even though I know it isn't always really used negatively, but LURKING (the word) smacks of something sinister to me, while I know that many people who read blogs without commenting do so for a whole range and variety of reasons. When I first discovered blogs, I read quite a few regularly, but never knew where the space really was for me to step in and say "Hi!". I felt there were groups of people who knew one another well, commented out of a familiarity with the background of the blogger, and that they were welcome to participate in the chat around any post. It felt to me like jumping in would be making myself comfortable in someone's living-room, without being sure the invitation was really there for me. My admiration for the blogs brought me back time and again, and my shyness kept me from saying anything. So I have been a lurker. I still am on a few blogs where I'm not sure what to say. Then there are Typepad and Wordpress blogs that can be just simply awkward to post comments to, and when I try, I end up seeming to be anonymous when that's not what I meant to happen.

.

It's a minefield, in other words! And I understand! I have no idea whether there is anyone who visits here that's not yet commented. I don't have a sitemeter or any way of knowing how many "hits" I get. Maybe there's nobody. Maybe there are people who know me, and think I'd be bothered by their appearing here. But if you are out there, and you haven't said hello yet, come on and say hello now. I'm told it's National Delurking Week. I'll choose to call it "National Beat-your-Blogger-Shyness week" and invite you in.

.

This week, for the first time in 80 weeks, there isn't a prompt for Sunday Scribblings. Some people are feeling very discommoded in the absence of a prompt, so they've turned the "Sorry, No Prompt" post into a prompt, and in a sense that's what this post has been, too. A weekend post, catching up with no particular focus, but a wish to connect in here, to let my BlogLand pals know I'm doing fine, and to just touch base with some of what brings me here. Now to finish, and try to get around to visit some of you. If I don't stop by, know that I think of all of you, and hope October has started well for you all.

Thursday Travelling Poetry Show: Rainbow Revelation

The theme suggested for this week's Travelling Poetry Show was to Confront The Fear.

Delia said: "Is there a form that frightens you? Try it. Does the idea of submitting a piece of your writing to a publication make your heart pound? Go for it anyway and be sure to share about it. Is it time you had a creative "coming-out" with that friend of yours or the boss at work? Give them one of your poems to read, go ahead...I dare you! Is reading aloud what makes you weak in the knees? Find a group to read to and face that anxiety head-on. Are you apprehensive about reading certain poets...crack the spine on that book anyway and see what lessons might be waiting for you there..."

I would like to share with you a piece from Yoko Ono's Rainbow Revelation, which I first read in the collection of essays edited by Eddie and Debbie Shapiro called The Way Ahead - A Visionary Perspective for the New Millenium. Yoko Ono says:
----

........Bless you for your fear for it is a sign of wisdom
........Do not hold yourself in fear.
........Transform the eneregy to flexibility and you will
........be free from what you fear.

When I searched for the full text online of Rainbow Revelation, I found that part of it is now song lyrics. I've never heard her perform it. Have you? In the book, there are 10 verses (1 page) of what she says was originally a 100-page document. A few other verses:

Bless you for your anger for it is a sign of rising energy.
Direct not to your family, waste not on your enemy.
Transform the energy to versatility and it will bring you
prosperity.

Bless you for your sorrow for it is a sign of vulnerability.
Share not with your family, direct not to yourself.
Transform the energy to sypathy and it will bring
you love.

Bless you for your greed for it is a sign of great capacity.
Direct not to your family. Direct not to the world.
Transform the energy to giving Give as much as you wish
to take, and you will receive satisfaction....

----------------------------------------------

Time has been more scarce than I'd have liked this week. I know now that I'm not going to get around to writing anything in a "frightening" form. I've tried villanelles, sestinas, sonnets in the past. I do very badly with them. And I know I won't do any better if it just stays at that. So sometime I will come back to formal poetry and stay with it - get through the barrier of fear of doing something really schlocky and predictable and be willing to do it anyway.

I took part in a reading to launch a big community festival this week. But that's not something new to me. It was among poets I know and respect. My work was well-received, so I can't claim to have faced any of my fears in doing that.

What frightens me? Well, here's something that makes me nervous. Some time ago, a friend suggested that a good way to market poetry might be to print it up very nicely on parchment, decorate it, and sell a "limited edition" of perhaps 25 signed copies of a single poem (ooh, my stomach is scrunching up right now thinking about it). Well, I'm going to float the idea. I'm not offering to sell these to you, my dear blog-friends, but asking your opinion of the idea. Would people want to have such a thing? If I decide to make some up ... say next week, and offer them to some of you (randomly chosen) as a gift on the occasion of my 200th post on this blog (which will, coincidentally happen sometime next week), would those whose names come out of the hat give me honest feedback on them?

Ok. I did something scary. It's out there.
-----------------------------------

The Travelling Poetry Show has set up camp this week with Carolee, the Polkadot Witch. Pull in and sit round the fire a while. Tell us what scares you in poetry.