Seven Days in the Park #4

Some days, all you really want to do is nothing, but when you’re on a residency (and inside the bubble it inevitably creates) that is simply not possible. So, waking up aching rather a great deal due to weightlifting yesterday, having to successfully cope with everything that was in my Inbox and Instagram messages was gonna eat me eventually. It did, about an hour ago. We have downed tools. Day is DUN.

So much has happened, I think we probably need a list at this point:

• Some audio I read of my own work for an Art Trail project has been sent back to me as something COMPLETELY different,
• Someone I offered an invitation to has said YES and we are having a wee Zoom chat tomorrow,
• Somebody else has read an email where they have been offered the opportunity to host something and are now considering,
• A MAJOR opportunity is waiting for an acceptance without a form needing to be filled in,
• A message exchange solved a poetry issue for me and a poem is now completed…
• … and I had the best cup of tea I’ve managed to self-create all week!

The open mic last night was also a bit of an eye opener as it transpires a poet who I knew was in the same county as me is in fact a lot closer than at first realised and also runs a poetry group! There’s no time at present to organise some stuff there but it can absolutely, definitely end up being a Thing at some point later in the year. In fairness a lot of stuff is going that way.

The other massively satisfying portion of today was writing some things out that have previously eluded me. There is still one thing left to make real, which I hope to have done tomorrow, and if we can do that then I feel the entirety of this exercise has been a massive success. I stopped counting new drafts when I got to double figures. This has been a transformational week for that alone. The work is… significant. It is also incredibly honest. I hope I can find a home for it.

There is at least one contest poem in the pile.

I can tell how tired I am by how long it has taken me to write 400 words, which has been approximately two hours work.

I think it’s time to decompress.