Wednesday 1st January 2014
Cold cloth
Against bed-banished skin
By dusty computer
Shooting pain through left temple
Greyness clings to redbrick
Dismal let-down
Okay, no trial runs, this is
it. Early evening in Moorside. Dismal wet outside. I’m a little tired but I’m
inspired to get myself hired for some creative writing gigs as soon as
possible. Jenni is in the living room playing backgammon. Just watched Classic
Albums dvd of Queen’s A Night at the Opera. Great insights from Brian and Roger
on the amount of work that went into the record. I first heard it when I was
about eleven years old. My eldest sister’s boyfriend also gave me Live Killers,
Jazz and Sheer Heart Attack. Queen remain special to me. Been working on stuff
for workshops. Enjoyed morning free writes, been good to have reading time,
contemplation time and inspiration for art journal. Looking forward to work. 7.58pm.
Thursday 2nd January 2014
Sunlight on redbrick
The stillness of stripped branches
Voice of insistent father
Infant on tiny red bike with stabilizers
Was good to walk
into town today. Bought a bunch of art materials: coloured pens, pencils,
markers, brushes, watercolours. Checked out some collaging exercises online
tonight and watched an old episode of Frost. Jenni is playing backgammon online
and programming the line-up for Rob Auton’s Sky Show. Tomorrow I’ll be prepping
for next week’s writing marathon at the Lit & Phil then looking at
quarterly finances from last year. Early night for me, I think. 10.06pm.
Friday 3rd January 2014
Moped parked by overflowing wheelie bin
Security light illuminating metallic blue paintwork
Grey clouds swirl in hellish wind of another cruel
dawn
Think I need to get out of
the house a bit. Perfectly happy being indoors, but it’s not helping with the
writing. Feeling a bit ambivalent about it all today. Was going to make a
little hardback notebook as distraction tonight but too tired to do that. Been
eating bacon cheeseburgers. Tomorrow I’ll be continuing with work prep. Haven’t
read anything for leisure for about a week. Tell a lie – some Rollins Art to
Choke Hearts. Haven’t shaved for a good while. Feeling slothful. Uncomfortable.
Need a good gig or workshop. Still good to have time out. Thanks to Jenni for
being a lovely cuddle blanket. Thanks to watercolours and cheesecake. 9.42pm.
Saturday 4th January 2014
Another grey morning
Bit of broken red
Pencil that shaded left hand
It was fun at the time to
play with primary colours on a piece of 110gsm off-white paper and carve
gratitude fragments onto the rainbow palette but I don’t think it really
represents me at all. Maybe the childish side. But I wouldn’t want to do a whole
journal like that. By making the page I can appreciate more the reservations
people have with showing their writing to others. Being vulnerable to criticism;
being held in by the inner critic. In the same way that I feel oppressed by
colour in my wardrobe, I find that an explosion of it on the page isn’t how I
want to present myself. I will experiment with single-colour washes, overlaid b/w
photography transfers, scraps of mock diary page. I need to research more. Need
to use that which represents my true aesthetics. Anyway, enough on my new
little hobby. In no way do I want it to overshadow the real thing. I prefer the
blank page and the pen scrawling across it, to be honest. I can’t write
expansive stories and I don’t wear bright colours. I’ll continue doing my thing
the way I’ve always done it: fill notebooks, pick out the parts I like and
discard the rest. Works best for me. Going to have a big week next week. Lots
more work prep, the four-hour marathon. Need to think about rehearsing some
more Sunshine. 9.19am… It was good to look at the deluxe copy this morning. Made
up the book block for an A6 hardback this evening. Checked out some craft videos.
Would like to be asleep by midnight. 11.17pm.
Sunday 5th January 2014
(i)
Frosty ground
Peach fading up
Into cream then ice blue
Birds tweet
Beyond the stillness
Of the street
In Cellar Twelve
You can’t force me
To do anything
(ii)
Clear boxed C90
White sticker says: Queen –
Day at the Races
New A6 hardback
Staggered signatures: fold, stitch, glue –
Two and half hours
Another work-day. Have enough
prompts for upcoming marathon but want
to replace a few. Was good to get a little A6 hardback made today. Checked out
some art journal stuff and listened to some vintage (80’s) Rollins spoken word.
Jenni got up at three and we had pizza and chips. Read some “Bang Said the Gun”
tonight. Had some laughs. 10.30pm.
Monday 6th January 2014
White flatbed lorry glides up Derby Crescent
Wind argues with walls, chimneys, wheelie bins, trees
Yellow pencil spears stickleback dead man on drop-leaf
Central heating breathes, creaks, pants, rumbles
Beige expanse in post-breakfast gloom
Cup on the carpet, chill in the air
Watched Good Will Hunting on
television last night. Powerful stuff. And one of Jenni’s favourite films. It’s
now mid evening. Warm in the living room
and I’m full of lentil soup and bread. Have just spent the last four
hours sorting through thousands of unfiled photographs from Poetry Jam,
Lamplight, etc on my computer. Being a bit of a fucking luddite I had to get
Jenni to keep me right so I didn’t duplicate by accident and turn my hard drive
into a digital image popcorn machine. Had enough now. Seems like 2014 will be a
year of taking stock, editing, revising and getting things where they should
be. Not sure I’ll generate much new stuff besides marathon pieces and surprise
moments in the journal. Weather was too shit to go out and buy stuff for the
marathon. Don’t want to be spending more on buses when I’m
going to be out tomorrow and Wednesday. Six people liked my ‘stone’ writing
fragment today. 8.46pm.
Tuesday 7th January 2014
Bottles clanking into the belly of the beast
Wet streetlight smudged under slippered feet,
January pre-dawn chill bites upper body nakedness
Drag your good deed to the gate and wonder
How long before all that glass, plastic and cardboard
Is back on the supermarket shelves. It’s 7.43
And the day is ripe with possibility
Forgot until about half an
hour ago that it’s Ernie’s birthday so I popped into the phone box outside Jen’s
place to wish him many happy returns. He says he got a lot more cards than
usual and thanked me for the present. I’m now in Jenni’s place, fighting my way
though the clothes and boxes of stuff to get myself a spot on the futon in front
of the electric fire. It’s been quite a stressful day really. Didn’t get into
Consett till late afternoon to do the food shopping for tomorrow’s marathon. I
only got half of what I wanted. Still
need soft drinks and something for Kirsten’s diet.
I have a sweet tooth and filled a basket with cakes from Barry’s Bargain Store,
then just before getting to the checkout, I put most of it back. Didn’t get
home till after five then a Krypton Factor packing puzzle to get everything into
the case without crushing the cakes. Jen
is still out at Steph’s place. This room is unusually warm. In fact, Gateshead is rather mild. It’s good to be out of Moorside
for a while. Looking forward to doing the workshop tomorrow. Hope to get good
footage recorded as well as do some new writing. A drink of dandelion and
burdock for me now and an early night. OK. 9.33pm.
Wednesday 8th January 2014
White coat, sheepy fleece head and trainers
It’s just gone seven and Jenni’s jabbering on about
Some bloke made out of beans
Still Buzzing eight hours
after the writing marathon at Lit and Phil today. So pleased people enjoyed it.
Bigly thanks to Jenni for helping out with food while I got the books, prompts
and liquid refreshment ready. Four hours of full-on writing and read-backs. And
everyone – Sky, Mandy, Kirsten, Diane, Bev, Jenni and Mel – wrote some cracking
stuff. So chuffed to get some full readings on video. And some superb stills on
Facebook now. Never used so many pages before in a marathon booklet – 47. Some only a
few lines of scrawl, but still pleased it went well. Got some art paper for
more handmade books afterwards and have a relaxing chat with James Fisher,
James Wilkinson, Jenni and Simon at the Writers’ Café afterwards. Think I’ve
eaten way too many sweets . Must get on a diet asap or I’ll go off with a bang.
But what a mint day. 11.05pm.
.
.
.
Thursday 9th January 2014
Shed the duvet and descend the creaky stair
Morning air clasps legs, runs icy fingers across arms
Breathes down the back of an ancient neck
Listening to The Mission at twenty to
eleven this evening. Where has the day gone? Sent Sky Hawkins some writing feedback
this morning and made preliminary steps towards hosting more marathons very
soon. After a marathon it’s not uncommon to feel absolutely hammered. Usually I
get it the same day, but this time round the day after. Found myself having to
take a late afternoon nap. Later, I read through a 120-page book that contains
sights and sounds from a twelve hour ‘on-the-move’ writing session I did around
my hometown of Consett on 6th January 2011. I’m going to use some of it in my
new term at Waddington Street Centre which starts next Tuesday. Lots of ideas
but I need to get the formal paperwork for two ten-week courses off to New
College Durham by Monday. Busy weekend for me, then. Meanwhile, Wayne Hussey
still loves to hug the girl in the fur skin rug. 10.50pm.
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