Tuesday, 18 October 2011
Man Booker Prize
Enjoyed a lovely lunch at Newcastle`s Slug and Lettuce and had a tour around the Drum Centre, what a fabulous old building, must visit the archive to research the history of the place.
Busy day today, three meetings which went very well. I have another reading/memories group to start on 1st November and new contacts for mental health projects.
Get in!!! Man Booker Prize won by Julian Barnes "The Sense of an Ending". Just got back from Toon Man Booker at Newcastle`s own Central Library where we were treated to the first chapter from the 6 shortlisted books. We were split into 8`s with wine and nibbles to help the decision making. Snowdrops was a contender, here was me thinking what a lovely title, when it was explained that
in Russia after the harsh winter thaw, bodies are discovered, usually vagrants, murder victims and unfortunate drunks, so they are given the name "Snowdrops". I bought and voted for the winner, can`t wait to start this one
"I remember, in no particular order:
- a shiny inner wrist;
- steam rising from a wet sink as a hot frying pan is laughingly tossed into it;
-gouts of sperm circling a plughole, before being sluiced down the full length of a tall house;- a river rushing nonsensically upstream, it`s wave and wash lit by half a dozen chasing torchbeams;
(and also love this part)
"We live in time - it holds us and moulds us - but I`ve never felt I understood it very well. And I`m not referring to the theories about how it bends and doubles back , or may exist elsewhere in parallel versions. No, I mean ordinary, everyday time, which clocks and watches assure us passes regularly: tick-tock, tick-tock."
Loved the launch of Tyne Bridge Publisher`s new book All Right Now on the 70`s, also at Central Libary, as usual the speakers were spot on and very entertaining. I have my free copy as a contributor. My piece centered on my time as a G.P.O telephonist during the strike in 71.
Husband D purchased one of those air freshner contraptions which puff- blast evevery 20 minutes, fine, but it scared the shit out of me. I was watching a programme and just as someone mentioned "And they hid the body under the floorboards..." the bloody thing puffed out and I nearly shit myself!!
Just bought Reality Bites, it`s a long time since I watched this film, but I love the part where the 4 friends are waiting to be served in a service station. My Sherona is playing on the radio and 3 of them start dancing in the aisle while the fourth is mortified. Also watched The Notebook and was in floods of tears, brilliant!! The Butterfly Effect is a great film. Called in to A Touch of Class on Adelaide Terrace, second hand goods, 4 dvd`s for a quid, hence the list of films. Watched The Five People you Meet in Heaven, read the book and it sticks reliably to the text.
My eldest son G bought me a bottle of Monsoon perfume! What is he after I ask, but still, I shouldn`t complain, he often presents me with chocolate, so anyone who can do that is ok in my opinion, especially is it`s Twirl, yum.
Busy day today, three meetings which went very well. I have another reading/memories group to start on 1st November and new contacts for mental health projects.
Get in!!! Man Booker Prize won by Julian Barnes "The Sense of an Ending". Just got back from Toon Man Booker at Newcastle`s own Central Library where we were treated to the first chapter from the 6 shortlisted books. We were split into 8`s with wine and nibbles to help the decision making. Snowdrops was a contender, here was me thinking what a lovely title, when it was explained that
in Russia after the harsh winter thaw, bodies are discovered, usually vagrants, murder victims and unfortunate drunks, so they are given the name "Snowdrops". I bought and voted for the winner, can`t wait to start this one
"I remember, in no particular order:
- a shiny inner wrist;
- steam rising from a wet sink as a hot frying pan is laughingly tossed into it;
-gouts of sperm circling a plughole, before being sluiced down the full length of a tall house;- a river rushing nonsensically upstream, it`s wave and wash lit by half a dozen chasing torchbeams;
(and also love this part)
"We live in time - it holds us and moulds us - but I`ve never felt I understood it very well. And I`m not referring to the theories about how it bends and doubles back , or may exist elsewhere in parallel versions. No, I mean ordinary, everyday time, which clocks and watches assure us passes regularly: tick-tock, tick-tock."
Loved the launch of Tyne Bridge Publisher`s new book All Right Now on the 70`s, also at Central Libary, as usual the speakers were spot on and very entertaining. I have my free copy as a contributor. My piece centered on my time as a G.P.O telephonist during the strike in 71.
Husband D purchased one of those air freshner contraptions which puff- blast evevery 20 minutes, fine, but it scared the shit out of me. I was watching a programme and just as someone mentioned "And they hid the body under the floorboards..." the bloody thing puffed out and I nearly shit myself!!
Just bought Reality Bites, it`s a long time since I watched this film, but I love the part where the 4 friends are waiting to be served in a service station. My Sherona is playing on the radio and 3 of them start dancing in the aisle while the fourth is mortified. Also watched The Notebook and was in floods of tears, brilliant!! The Butterfly Effect is a great film. Called in to A Touch of Class on Adelaide Terrace, second hand goods, 4 dvd`s for a quid, hence the list of films. Watched The Five People you Meet in Heaven, read the book and it sticks reliably to the text.
My eldest son G bought me a bottle of Monsoon perfume! What is he after I ask, but still, I shouldn`t complain, he often presents me with chocolate, so anyone who can do that is ok in my opinion, especially is it`s Twirl, yum.
Wednesday, 5 October 2011
Colin Will "Sushi and Chips"
Poems
This is a selection from my published poems.
The Red-eye
I leave this at your ear for when you wake,
the shell I picked up last week from the beach.
You said you heard the long waves curl and break,
reminding you of times now out of reach.
I slip out of the room and close the door,
leaving your house as quietly as I came.
The parcels for the kids are on the floor –
just books, no toys, CDs or X-Box games.
I’ll walk into town and catch the early bus.
My flight’s at noon, so I’ll have lots of time.
I hate goodbyes, you know I can’t stand fussed
departures, tears we’d both regret, the pantomime
of hugs and hands stretched out for one last touch
where fingers fail but lips would be too much.
From: The floorshow at the Mad Yak Café, Red Squirrel Scotland
Copyright © Colin Will, 2010
To listen to an MP3 of this poem, click here.
A short history of Xi’an
The Great Walls of Chang’an once divided
outsider from insider, barbarian from citizen.
No more. We stroll along the broad rampart
between parapets, peer down into smoggy city,
take grey photos with phones. A tall T’ang warrior
dawdles to the guardhouse, shiny breastplate
of moulded resin, helmet crowned with red nylon plumes.
In a side temple at the Great Goose Pagoda
I make three fearless bows to the Buddha. A little man
sidles in, looks both ways before kneeling.
He would have been all right, I believe, even if witnessed,
and he’s surely better for performing right actions.
Some varieties of experience must be undertaken,
not just observed. In the evening news comes
of a new feathered dinosaur from Liaoning Province,
but this is not a novelty. That is how birds became.
From: The floorshow at the Mad Yak Café, Red Squirrel Scotland
Copyright © Colin Will, 2010
Circumstantial evidence
On the backside of her denim skirt
the traces of a faint green tinge,
a many-washed echo of grass stains,
the weight of him an unregretted pressure,
the rightness of it, a sudden mutual crush,
her smiling invitation, his rugged blush.
She remembers his clothes, a spring shirt,
soft collar checks in her fingers,
the roughness of his afternoon face
against her neck - a file to freedom,
an hour snatched out of destiny
and a programmed life,
sandwiches and kisses
with a young near stranger, all
the dangers of a crowded park.
Her husband knows she wears it
in a good mood, he’s happy
that she smiles, though the reason
escapes him, something he can’t quite
put his finger on.
From Sushi & Chips, Diehard Press, 2006, available from Calder Wood Press
Copyright © Colin Will, 2006
This is a selection from my published poems.
The Red-eye
I leave this at your ear for when you wake,
the shell I picked up last week from the beach.
You said you heard the long waves curl and break,
reminding you of times now out of reach.
I slip out of the room and close the door,
leaving your house as quietly as I came.
The parcels for the kids are on the floor –
just books, no toys, CDs or X-Box games.
I’ll walk into town and catch the early bus.
My flight’s at noon, so I’ll have lots of time.
I hate goodbyes, you know I can’t stand fussed
departures, tears we’d both regret, the pantomime
of hugs and hands stretched out for one last touch
where fingers fail but lips would be too much.
From: The floorshow at the Mad Yak Café, Red Squirrel Scotland
Copyright © Colin Will, 2010
To listen to an MP3 of this poem, click here.
A short history of Xi’an
The Great Walls of Chang’an once divided
outsider from insider, barbarian from citizen.
No more. We stroll along the broad rampart
between parapets, peer down into smoggy city,
take grey photos with phones. A tall T’ang warrior
dawdles to the guardhouse, shiny breastplate
of moulded resin, helmet crowned with red nylon plumes.
In a side temple at the Great Goose Pagoda
I make three fearless bows to the Buddha. A little man
sidles in, looks both ways before kneeling.
He would have been all right, I believe, even if witnessed,
and he’s surely better for performing right actions.
Some varieties of experience must be undertaken,
not just observed. In the evening news comes
of a new feathered dinosaur from Liaoning Province,
but this is not a novelty. That is how birds became.
From: The floorshow at the Mad Yak Café, Red Squirrel Scotland
Copyright © Colin Will, 2010
Circumstantial evidence
On the backside of her denim skirt
the traces of a faint green tinge,
a many-washed echo of grass stains,
the weight of him an unregretted pressure,
the rightness of it, a sudden mutual crush,
her smiling invitation, his rugged blush.
She remembers his clothes, a spring shirt,
soft collar checks in her fingers,
the roughness of his afternoon face
against her neck - a file to freedom,
an hour snatched out of destiny
and a programmed life,
sandwiches and kisses
with a young near stranger, all
the dangers of a crowded park.
Her husband knows she wears it
in a good mood, he’s happy
that she smiles, though the reason
escapes him, something he can’t quite
put his finger on.
From Sushi & Chips, Diehard Press, 2006, available from Calder Wood Press
Copyright © Colin Will, 2006
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