Obsessed with Pipework arrived today. It contains two of my poems, which seem to have taken ages to work their way through the system. That’s the trouble with print journals, compared to on-line journals they take a long time. However, the good thing is that It’s nice to see them in print on an actual paper page. It’s much nicer than just seeing them on-line. Unfortunately I can’t, as a result, give you a link. I will post them at some time in the future.
I will, however, look out my poem from the last issue and post that. I’m going to have to stop for a moment now, as Julia just served tea and I have spilt rice on the keyboard. I bet Philip Larkin didn’t have this problem…
One of the things I noticed after lockdown was that my ability to navigate round town had almost disappeared. It’s back now, but I noticed another lack today – I’ve forgotten a lot of wild flower names. It’s never been a strong point but there are a lot about that I can’t name. I must start learning them again. There were a lot of blue flowered plants in a couple of p[laces as we went out for a drive today – they looked a bit like borage but the flowers seemed more upright. Julia said it wasn’t borage but couldn’t ID it. It isn’t green alkanet. I’m starting to worry that after lockdown and at 50mph I have lost the ability to identify borage. This will be very upsetting if it is true as borage is usually so easy.
I suppose if that’s the worst thing that happened today I can’t be doing badly. As the day also featured a lot of wild flowers, a happy wife (I took her to the garden centre) and KFC for lunch (the doctor told me I should eat more chicken!) I haven’t done badly.
The photos are from May 2016.
Robin
I look forward to reading your work in the course of time.
You need to learn to adopt a lofty air and say things like, “Naming a plant is simply taking away the pleasure of watching it for its own sake and drinking in its beauty. Only pedants with their noses in books instead of nosegays name plants.”
I will make a note. 🙂
Pandemic and politics have created difficulties on many levels here, too, including mental fatigue. I am sorry to hear about the memory problems, Quercus. Hopefully that will pass. On the bright side, I am pleased to hear of your continuing success with poetry!
AS long as I can remeber to eat and write, I will get through. 🙂
So much better on a proper page
Yes it is. There’s something better about the look and feel of it, and possibly the smell, but I that does seem to wear off.
It must have been wonderful to be out for a drive today and doing normal things. Richard and I have begun shopping together and driving to places where we can walk. It is odd to think I should feel daring to do these things. I have lost the ability to name things as well – not just plants but anything – nouns evade me. It is good to have your poetry in print.
I’m sure we will recover most of what we have lost, but it is a bit of a worry that I feel less enterprising in planning trips, or even going out shopping. Hope you start remembering things. 🙂
Thank you, Simon. I think we will all have to make a real effort to recover our freedom as well as our courage. 🙂
🙂
Still can’t beat the thrill of print.