Hope you're having a Doris Day!From 'Love Letter (Clouds)' by Sarah Manguso
For B. H.
For B. H.
I didn’t fall in love. I fell through it:
Came out the other side moments later, hands full of matter, waking up from the dream of a bullet tearing through the middle of my body.
I no longer understand anything for longer than a long moment, or the time it takes to receive the shot.
This kind of gravity is like falling through a cloud, forgetting it all, and then being told about it later. On the day you fell through a cloud . . .
It must be true. If it were not, then when did these strands of silver netting attach to my hair?
The problem was finding that you were real and not just a dream of clouds.
Thanks to Kerrie for the invitation to the South East feminist group, I'm definitely planning to join and I'll be in touch. I also had a lovely email from Stephen of the Salford Star this week checking that I'd received some back issues he kindly sent me last month, which I've been gradually winging my way through with a view to writing an article all about the Star and my own ambitions to start something similar in Portsmouth.
In fact, my main problem at the moment is that I have a thousand ideas for things to do, but I'm not so hot at organizing my time well enough to do many of them. My short story is still in the making, my novel for young people the same, and I have so many 'backburner' projects on the go, my metaphorical literary oventop is positively overflowing. Still, it must be better to have too many ideas than too few, but I have decided on a tactic to improve my concentration and focus.
So, it's back to meditation I go, followed by several sessions with my diary and timeplanner.
It's been a beautiful sunny day and despite an early stage lurgy (I've been around too many people with colds this week not to catch the bloody thing) threatening to descend, I've managed to enjoy every minute (once I managed to rouse myself from my coma like state this morning) of it. I met my neighbour, Alan, for coffee this afternoon, to bring him up to speed with a residents meeting that was held in my flat on Sunday.
The meeting was surprisingly well attended by almost everyone from the Heights (and the small number that couldn't were working). I know most of my Heights-mates anyway, but it was a great afternoon, and at the end of it we all decided to meet up again, but next time with wine rather than tea. I've set up a provisional date for a social gathering next Saturday night and I'm hoping everyone can make it.
As ever, it's been important ot me to remember that there is a silver lining to the recent news that the building is to be taken over by someone else and the chance to socialize with all of the Heights community at once (we are all accustommed to meeting up with each other in smaller groups and cliques) has definitely been one of them. Another one has been the chance to get to know each of the residents here better, and it's interesting to discover that so many of us have used our time here at the Heights to pursue our creative endeavours.
Alan (my next door neighbour - we've just discovered that our connecting fire door allows for notes to be passed between us) invited me into his flat when I popped round later to drop off his invitation. His flat is identical in shape and size to mine, but his flat reflects the individual facets of his personality just as mine does. However, my flat is a warning to visitors that you are entering the territory of someone with a chaotic mind, whereas Alan's flat feels like walking into the most delicious, light-filled houseboat. Alan is a former sailing man, and still sails boats around the dockyard in summer. He's also an artist and a sculptor, whose flat is lined with pieces of his own work, which are stunning. In fact, I may ask him if I can photograph some of them and post them here for you. They're all for sale, too, so if you're looking for a piece of nautical sculpture, Alan's your man.
Most impressive to me, however, was a model that Alan showed me of a huge public art sculpture that he liased with the Portsmouth City Council on many years ago. It would have been made using an old submarine from the scrapyard at Tipner and utilised the shell of the submarine and some amazing water-based pieces, to create what Alan described as a 'nautical cathedral.' The original idea was that people would be able to move through the structure in the same way they would a building. Unfortunately the project with PCC fell through, and the sculpture remains only a model. But you never know....
What continues to be impressed on my mind at the moment is the power of embracing events to spark unforeseen changes in my life. At the moment, meeting new people seems to be the order of the day, and encountering new experiences, opportunities and challenges never seems far behind. For the moment though, I need to harness my newfound enthusiasm into a better balanced Council work/my work equation so that I can better manage the changes ahead, particularly financially.
The wonderful Clarky though, sent me a wonderful exercise this week that I'm hoping will help. It's too long to post here, but post me a comment if you're interested and I'll forward it to you stat.
In fact, my main problem at the moment is that I have a thousand ideas for things to do, but I'm not so hot at organizing my time well enough to do many of them. My short story is still in the making, my novel for young people the same, and I have so many 'backburner' projects on the go, my metaphorical literary oventop is positively overflowing. Still, it must be better to have too many ideas than too few, but I have decided on a tactic to improve my concentration and focus.
So, it's back to meditation I go, followed by several sessions with my diary and timeplanner.
It's been a beautiful sunny day and despite an early stage lurgy (I've been around too many people with colds this week not to catch the bloody thing) threatening to descend, I've managed to enjoy every minute (once I managed to rouse myself from my coma like state this morning) of it. I met my neighbour, Alan, for coffee this afternoon, to bring him up to speed with a residents meeting that was held in my flat on Sunday.
The meeting was surprisingly well attended by almost everyone from the Heights (and the small number that couldn't were working). I know most of my Heights-mates anyway, but it was a great afternoon, and at the end of it we all decided to meet up again, but next time with wine rather than tea. I've set up a provisional date for a social gathering next Saturday night and I'm hoping everyone can make it.
As ever, it's been important ot me to remember that there is a silver lining to the recent news that the building is to be taken over by someone else and the chance to socialize with all of the Heights community at once (we are all accustommed to meeting up with each other in smaller groups and cliques) has definitely been one of them. Another one has been the chance to get to know each of the residents here better, and it's interesting to discover that so many of us have used our time here at the Heights to pursue our creative endeavours.
Alan (my next door neighbour - we've just discovered that our connecting fire door allows for notes to be passed between us) invited me into his flat when I popped round later to drop off his invitation. His flat is identical in shape and size to mine, but his flat reflects the individual facets of his personality just as mine does. However, my flat is a warning to visitors that you are entering the territory of someone with a chaotic mind, whereas Alan's flat feels like walking into the most delicious, light-filled houseboat. Alan is a former sailing man, and still sails boats around the dockyard in summer. He's also an artist and a sculptor, whose flat is lined with pieces of his own work, which are stunning. In fact, I may ask him if I can photograph some of them and post them here for you. They're all for sale, too, so if you're looking for a piece of nautical sculpture, Alan's your man.
Most impressive to me, however, was a model that Alan showed me of a huge public art sculpture that he liased with the Portsmouth City Council on many years ago. It would have been made using an old submarine from the scrapyard at Tipner and utilised the shell of the submarine and some amazing water-based pieces, to create what Alan described as a 'nautical cathedral.' The original idea was that people would be able to move through the structure in the same way they would a building. Unfortunately the project with PCC fell through, and the sculpture remains only a model. But you never know....
What continues to be impressed on my mind at the moment is the power of embracing events to spark unforeseen changes in my life. At the moment, meeting new people seems to be the order of the day, and encountering new experiences, opportunities and challenges never seems far behind. For the moment though, I need to harness my newfound enthusiasm into a better balanced Council work/my work equation so that I can better manage the changes ahead, particularly financially.
The wonderful Clarky though, sent me a wonderful exercise this week that I'm hoping will help. It's too long to post here, but post me a comment if you're interested and I'll forward it to you stat.
1 comment:
It's so amazing to meet another feminist from Portsmouth! Saw you on South Coast Fems and thought I'd drop by to say hello. :o)
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