story and verse: Poetry, Dear Earth, singing, and ratty news

Thursday 12 December 2019

Poetry, Dear Earth, singing, and ratty news

I am shortly to submit my last climate change poem to Live Canon for feedback, but it won't be the last poem of that nature I will be writing.. In fact this morning while I was sinking my first mug of tea of the day I had an idea for another so I wrote a few verses. I liked the start of it but struggled over the end verse. I put it aside and went back to it later and re-wrote some lines and found a way into the final verse. Now it's set aside to rest.

I've just signed up to Satya Robyn's free e-course For Dear Earth, 28 daily emails to bring you in a closer relationship with earth. Satya is a Buddhist Priest and some years ago I took part in her monthly Small Stone Poems. I am only on day two of the e-course but I am finding it challenging to my emotions. I watched a half hour video made by Extinction Rebellion which was both very informative (fact wise) and scary. This course sits well with the work I've been doing with Live Canon and is making me think about what I do next. While I am making changes in my life, should I be doing more and getting out of my comfort zone? I am certainly still taking small steps in my plastic free life (though I haven't managed to stop other members of the household from buying bottled water yet). I'm trying to lead by example and am working on a solution to my bottle buying son who reckons tap water tastes awful.

One of things that bugs me is the amount of cartons I end up with for my soya milk. Oh for it to come in glass bottles! I'm considering trying to make my own oat milk, but I fear it won't taste the same and then do I have to time to make enough? I recently bought some silicon baking mats in order to reduce the amount if aluminium foil and baking parchment we use, and I've bought a reusable sandwich bag. The other day I used a shampoo soap bar for the first time. However, my hair felt rather sticky. I'll give it another go but I might have to find an alternative. I wish there was a refill shop near me. These things are still taking time but I'm hopeful I can find something nearby soon.

Thinking about Christmas I'm trying to be as eco friendly as possible. I'm giving one friend a Kilner Jar with ingredients for a cake. All she has to add is an egg, water and butter. I've written the recipe out. We always try to re-use Christmas wrapping (my husband spends ages peeling off sellotape), and I often make tags out of old cards. This year I'm making my own Christmas crackers - just enough for one each on the day. I used to do this years ago. I'm just waiting for the pack of 'snaps' to arrive.

This week has all been about singing, but I think this will be the last year I sing outdoors in winter because after a two hour stretch at Waterloo station the cold made me feel so ill. It's not the first time this has happened and I think I need to take notice now. Yesterday was our end of term concert which went well and was fun to do. We had our regular band for some numbers. Our last performance is at Kingston Parish Church on Saturday as part of their Christmas Tree festival.

And back to writing.....I was pleased to see that my poem Milkers was published by Visual Verse on their website this month. It was a prompt I could not refuse!

Oh and we successfully managed to get both Charlie and Ollie out on the sofa together without Ollie Bear (he looks just like a polar bear) biting anyone. He seems to feel less threatened out of the cage. Still not sure whether bonding with Rizzo will happen. The only time Rizzo and Charlie met there was a stand-off, a bit of sniffing and then Rizzo chased Charlie over the sofa and Charlie yipped. Not sure if Rizzo bit him, but certainly there were no marks. Still a way to go!