I have only just reached 29.
That’s to say number 29 out of the 77 December submissions, and this is too slow for comfort. So no blog writing today, only writing scribbly notes on people’s poems between pencil sharpenings. (I have sharpened two whole pencils to oblivion).
There will be feedback on the process in due course—another couple of weeks yet.
Meanwhile, Chapter Seven of the HappenStance Story is just about ready to go to print. If you’d like a copy (we sold out of Chapter Six) and you’re not a subscriber, here’s your link.
We have no snow in this wintry corner of Fife—at least only a powdery dusting. Rather disappointing, even for grown-ups. Also no word from the Bank of Scotland. Please forgive me if you’ve sent a cheque in the last fortnight. I can’t pay them in. I can only sit and look at them. If the situation persists for another week, a new account will be opened.
Meanwhile, the last word is with Robert Nye’s poem ‘Winter More’, included in the HappenStance pamphlet anthology, Winter Gifts, right back at the beginning, in 2005.
WINTER MORE
When it was Winter what I saw
Was not enough for my heart’s claw.
I wanted the North Wind to blow
Like God the Father shouting No.
My heart was greedy for pure cold:
I wanted icicles of gold.
I wanted Taj Mahals of ice
And no mere Arctic could suffice.
Winter extreme, Winter complete
Was what I longed for in my heat
To reach an absolute North Pole
And know in body and in soul
Some more-than-polar vertigo,
The truth of snow on snow on snow.
This was my secret lust and lore:
I always wanted Winter more.
