Another poem – Meat. November 4, 2009
Posted by phoenixaeon in Meat, Poetry.4 comments
I had thought about using this next poem for the first post, but I don’t know… It’s a poem about loss in a sort of way, it is about the loss of the ability to control my body (stupid muscles!), but it is about more than that too. I still wanted to post it up, so here it is.
Meat.
The body bag is weighed,
Hooked and hung; flesh, left to mature.
Meat; emulsified, fattened,
Weeping. Lamb shoulders lament,
Bleating like ovine; hunted
By wolves baying for blood and bones.
The body bag is weighed
Down, forced groundward by crab apples.
Meat; degrading, festering,
Weakened. Rump steaks slumping,
Swaying like bovine; crazed
From the feasting of flesh and friends.
The body bag is weighed;
Come, take your pound of flesh!
Meat; no longer lean – flaccid,
Wobbling. Pork belly bellows,
Grunting like porcine; bathed
In bloody mud stirred by villainous villeins.
The body bag is weighed.
Meat; is all that remains.
Defensive Crouch. November 4, 2009
Posted by phoenixaeon in Defensive Crouch, Poetry.5 comments
I thought I’d give another of the writing prompts at sleep is for the weak a go. Okay, this might not be something entirely new, but hey ho, I’m using it.
5. Share with us a story of loss, if this is something that you feel comfortable doing. And you can interpret this any way you like.
- Inspired by me, after my sad goodbye this week.
Defensive crouch
Strange little girl.
Stupid, little
good for nothing.
PATHETIC!
Come and have a go ‘cos I know
you’re hard enough.
Come and have a go ‘cos you know
I’m a pushover.
Come and have a go ‘cos your words pack a punch
as hard as your kick.
Remember when you asked:
‘How can anyone hate her?’
ASK your fists.
ASK your feet.
ASK your whipping tongue.
One day,
you’ll be sorry.
One day,
you won’t see me coming.
One day,
I’ll hit back.
But not today.
No, today I’ll just let it happen.
Again.
And again.
Where is my backbone?
Of progress and poetry October 29, 2009
Posted by phoenixaeon in Building work, Poetry, The Tooth Fairy Benevolence Fund.3 comments
So the builders are cracking on again and have been here for the last 45 minutes working hard. I’m so impressed at the speed they’ve been working, so here’s some pictures of the rate of progress.
First thing, Wednesday morning. (Day 8 ) Footings and dampcourse complete.
First thing, Thursday morning (day 9).
And they have almost finished the last bit of the front wall around the door and window. Fab!
As for poetry, I’ve been meaning to post this one up for ages. It’s a silly little poem and was based on a bedtime conversation between Princi and I. The italics indicates Princi’s half of the conversation and the red is because it’s her favourite colour.
The Tooth Fairy Benevolence Fund
Good night,
Sleep tight.
Don’t let the bedbugs
bite.
I love you.
I love you, too.
I love you to infinity!
And beyond…
Good night, sweet
dreams.
Yes, I shall dream
about fishies
Swim, little fishy. Swim! Swim!
And running – 00h!
I need the loo!
Run! Run like the wind with a wing at your heel!
And doors…
Where will they lead?
To butterflies and magic.
And I will dream
about my tooth
falling
out
and about the tooth
fairy
coming
to give me a quid!
(Oh no! The cat is puking everywhere! I hope it’s just because he’s eaten something that doesn’t agree with him.)
Little Red has left the building. October 28, 2009
Posted by phoenixaeon in EA300, General rubbish, LRRH, OU, TMA01.2 comments
Thank the oral folk tale tradition! I pressed the button and send Little Red scurrying into the dangers of the binary forest earlier today, much to my relief. I’m not expecting good marks for the essay, I’m not sure that I structured the argument well enough for that, but I tried. And that was really all I could do. I can only hope that I can continue to get the new vocabulary fixed in my brain ready for the next essay – the one that I am dreading. Now I HAVE to get through Little Women and finish Treasure Island (yeah, I’m still reading it. Other things have distracted me) and start thinking about the next argument, this time something to do with the gender divide in children’s literature. Yikes!
I am hoping that the road for the next essay is a bit easier than Little Red’s. There have been many things to distract me – Princi’s illness last week, half term this week, the start of the building works (and wow! Are they motoring. And no, that is not sarcasm), and worrying about debts that I know I don’t owe. But I am glad that Princi is better now, that the essay is gone, and that the building is going better than I expected it to go (although I hope I haven’t just jinxed it by writing that). All I have to do now is compose a letter email and send it recorded delivery to the debt recovery company – I received the first threat letter this morning – and then I can take a break. If my head doesn’t explode first!
Anyhows, Guitar Hero calls. I need to wind down. And I shall catch up on blogs and various other things tomorrow.
Picture books, poems and Princi. October 21, 2009
Posted by phoenixaeon in EA300, Instructions, Neil Gaiman, OU, The Principessa Files, books.4 comments
So I’ve just pre-ordered ‘Instructions‘ by Gaiman and Vess. Oh, how I am looking forward to getting this book. But, I shall have to wait until next June. Such a long wait. And such a pity. If it had been released in February then I would have been able to use it for the picture book essay on the kidlit course. As it is, it’s just hard luck. Ho hum. But still – eximacited!
It’s getting very stressful here. There’s still loads to do with moving things out of the back room, sorting the little bedroom out, and general decluttering, yet no matter what we do it feels like more stuff magically appears. There is just TOO MUCH STUFF! It’s even come to the point where I’ve had to start thinning down the book collection to make room, so Skidaddles dropped a big bag of books off at a charity shop the other day. *Sob* My beautiful books! But I suppose it’s better that way, I doubt I’d ever read the books I gave away again. After all, there are plenty of other unread books that need my attention.
Speaking of attention… Gaz came around last night, so that meant a climbing frame for Princi. Not an actual climbing frame, but tall, lanky Gaz! At one point she jumped on Gaz’s shoulders, grabbed under his chin, and started to lean backwards (good job Gaz happened to be sitting down). Gaz asked Princi, “Are you looking for attention?” To which Princi replied, “No, just trouble!” Little terror!
(Oh no. The postie has just delivered a box of choccies. I will have to remember to cancel that membership to the choccie club – although I thought I already had. Now I’ll have Princi begging for chocolate all day.)
Well, I should go and do some Jolly Phonics and learning to write with Princi. I may call radio silence Twitter and blog wise over the next week while I fight my way through the end of the LRRH essay and its further rewrites. I think I need to give myself some away from the internet time before it makes me feel paranoid.
The Living Room October 20, 2009
Posted by phoenixaeon in writing.6 comments
I am deep into the realms of TMA avoidance despite the LRRH essay being constantly on my mind (why did I try to spell mind as mynd?) and I promised myself when I started feeling like this I’d take a break and do some creative writing. I just needed the kick up the bum to take that step. Luckily, Dadwhowrites twittered an interesting link yesterday, one that lead to a goldmine of writing prompts. So, using prompt #5 from sleepisfortheweak:
5. Sit in a room of your house you spend a lot of time in. And really LOOK. Notice all the details you usually miss, and describe them with all the creativity you can muster. Let the every-day inspire you.
- Inspired by ME! Who did this writing exercise today and was pretty flabbergasted at how such seemingly mundane things can provide great writing fodder.
here is my contribution.
The Living Room (on a cold October morning)
Sitting in the cowhide throne, I peruse the room. Silent sentinels, plush or otherwise, keep watch as they peek over jungle toy boxes. The pirate ship sails across the windowsill horizon carrying its haul from Dolphin Cove to its next raid site – Christmas Island. Echo shouts on Butterfly Mountain advertising the best restaurants, her voice returning to her in ever-decreasing newsprint. Horses, scooters and Peppa Pig cars lay claim to carpeted plains, as movie characters and plastic tanks protect the stronghold of Tom and Jerry.
Books, like rabbits, multiply and spring from the table. Knowledge bounds forth, a pestilence of paper, twitching before a condemned fire. Maybe that’s a hint? A parody of natural fuel only used to nourish learning. What warmth from yonder intel promises? It is Little Red and her wolfskin cape!
The Printer sits beside me, sleeping. It speaks when its mouth is not stuffed by haphazard hands with ten pound notes, DVDs, thermometers, acting like Tilapia fish to keep the items safe. Angered by its misuse a paper jam ensues, causing hooligan reactions to the goal-less draw. Adorned by a headdress of rabbit-like poetry and prose, pound coins and practical dates, it attends the USB Mardi Gras throwing necklaces of perfected words to the ground as gifts.
Knock, knock. October 19, 2009
Posted by phoenixaeon in Building work, EA300, OU, TMA01, sick Principessa.2 comments
Yay! The builders have started work outside. At the moment they are finishing cleaning up after knocking down the old coal shed. I tell you, the back garden is going to look very strange. But I’m so glad it’s being done, the extension is going to make life easier – although I will not be able to take Princi to bed once it’s done. That’s the biggest grr about the whole thing.
As for things getting done… The essay isn’t getting much further. Princi is off school as she has an ear infection and a kidney infection, so she is stuck at home with me. I’m going to have to dig out the Jolly Phonics workbooks so we’ve got something to do, as well as getting her to do some reading. Currently, she is watching Tom and Jerry on her computer. Oh, no she’s not. She’s just clicked onto Danger Mouse (dadum, dadum, dadum). At least this post on Dadwhowrites blog has helped me to crystalise my thoughts where LRRH is concerned. (Yes, I know it’s about Thomas the Tank Engine, but a comment I was going to make also made a pretty good argument for my essay!) All I need to do now is structure it around the essay plan and I’m more or less done with it – apart from a quick edit and putting in references. Ugh. References. I hate doing references!
Well, I suppose while I’ve got five minutes I could do a quick bit of the essay. Maybe.
(Oh no. The skip we hired still hasn’t been moved and the builders need to hire a new one. It’s skip gridlock!)
The Other Mother. October 14, 2009
Posted by phoenixaeon in Coraline, Films, Neil Gaiman, books.1 comment so far
Last night, Princi and I snuggled under the duvet to watch the Coraline DVD on our tiny portable DVD player. That is Princi’s favourite way of watching DVDs, she is forever waking up before me, diving under my duvet and asking to watch Doctor Who. Anyway, she was all excited, bouncing on the bed exclaiming ‘Ooh, I’m so excited! I’m so excited! I can’t wait,’ in a squealy high pitched voice. Chuffed at her excitement (she’s never been so excited to watch a film before, not even when we’ve gone to the cinema), I asked if she wanted to watch the 3D version. No. She didn’t like the glasses. 2D version it is, then. I started the film, Princi rested her head on a cuddly Triceratops and she watched, completely enthralled. I have never known her to stay so quiet or still while she’s watching a film!
The Other Mother appeared on screen. I thought that would frighten her. Nope. Then the Other Mother started getting nasty. Nope, still not frightened. I asked her ,’Would you like an Other Mother?’ To which she replied with a big, squeezy hug, ‘No. I just want you, Mummy. You’re my real Mother, and Grandand is my real Grandand. I don’t ever want you to go away.’ I had to smile at that. Then the Other Mother turned into a horrible spider-type thing. Still Princi was not scared. It was only when the horrible spidery hand started chasing Coraline right at the end of the film that she was frightened. She grabbed me in a Princi bearhug and hid her head under my arm. I told her she should carry on watching because it would all be okay. She peeked out and watched the scary bits and was very relieved when Wybie helped Coraline defeat the spider hand. Then she clapped and smiled at the happy outcome of the film. She even wanted to watch it again before she went to school this morning.
I am so glad we sat down to watch it together and that I didn’t just do a Coraline’s parents thing and leave her to watch it on her own. We had lovely huggles throughout the film, some ‘wow’ moments and some giggle moments, but most of all I was glad that she was not afraid to tell me when she was scared. I’m looking forward to watching Coraline with Princi again.
As for my opinion on film versus book – I’m more a fan of the book than the film. I can see why the introduction of Wybie was necessary (no other children in the book, apart from the ghost children) – and it also seemed to show how the attitudes of the parents, particularly the mother (what a snarky bitch!), had rubbed off on Coraline. She was very terse with Wybie and wouldn’t listen to him just as her mother was with her. It was also interesting that the only time she would really listen to Wybie was when he couldn’t speak. I would have prefered that the rats stay rats and were not disguised as jerboas, although cute it took away from the distinction of mice=good, rats=bad in the book. Although the relationship with her parents seemed more rounded in the film, the book seemed more sinister – esepecially with the rhymes of the mice and rats, and the change in location from basement to garden for the escape from the Other Father felt less scary.
Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed the film. It seemed like Little Red Riding Hood (as everything does at the moment!), Alice in Wonderland and Tom’s Midnight Garden all rolled into one. But when all is said and done, give me the book over the film any day. Probably because I’ve read or listened to it so many times before having the chance to see the film that my imaginings of the story are much stronger than the imagery – albeit fantastic and imaginitive – provided by the film.
Trials and tribulations. (I so wish that was Tribble-ations!) October 12, 2009
Posted by phoenixaeon in Dreams, EA300, Fairy tales, OU, bedtime, sick Principessa.4 comments
Ooh, it’s been a tough last week. Princi was sent home from school on Thursday complaining of headaches. About half an hour after arriving home she started chucking up. She then went through the sleeping for an hour, waking up, taking a mouthful of water and chucking up again phase. Aw, she even came downstairs citing, ‘I am not crying. I am panicking because I am sick.’ Poor little Munchkin! She spent the whole evening like that, the vomiting carrying on until around 2.30am. She had a temperature through Friday and Saturday, but was back to her normal self yesterday. Apart from waking up last night with ‘two broken legs.’ It seems she had been suffering with cramp in her calves through the night. I gave her a leg massage this morning and then told her to walk it out until the ache subsided. Poor babe.
As for me, I spent yesterday in agony after waking up in the night to turn over only to discover that my hip seemed to have seized. I had been avoiding a sprung spring on the mattress (thanks to Princi using the bed as a trampoline) and had slept in a bad position. Ouch! It’s still slightly sore this morning, but much better than it was yesterday.
Still, with Princi’s ‘broken legs’ and my strange dreams, I am knackered today. Yeah, my subconscious was in overdrive again last night. Dreams of alien invasions and the strange insecty aliens (kind of like V meets Starship Troopers) using humans as symbiotic disguises plagued my dreams. A band of resistance fighters had set themselves up in a shanty town in the mountains – the thinner air being detrimental to the insecty things – but someone had still been ‘infected’. For some reason Apollo from the new BSG was one of the resistance leaders and it was Sam from Supernatural who had been ‘infected’. (Yeah, I don’t know what goes on in my mind when I’m not controlling it!) He had a tear in his calf where the thing had entered (maybe my subconscious was telling me about Princi’s cramp here!), but its tail was still visible (I can imagine what Freudian psychoanalysis would make of that!). Apollo was a medic of some sort and was thinking of a way to extract the alien. And that’s all I can remember.
Hopefully, the strangeness leaked now, I will be able to get moving on this LRRH essay. I’ve had a couple of false starts so far, suffering trouble with linking the points together, but I think I may have had a breakthrough this morning whilst listening to some music and blowing jewels up in Bejeweled. So, I shall have a cup of coffee and a cuddle from the cat and then I shall get cracking on the essay. With some luck and determination I might get a full first draft done today as tomorrow will be disturbed by sheds arriving and physio visits. Hmph.
The truth of things. October 3, 2009
Posted by phoenixaeon in Conversations with Principessa.3 comments
Princi: Mummy, our family tells lies and stories.
Me: What makes you say that?
Princi: Do you know when Uncle Gareth says ‘Don’t pull a face because if the wind changes your face will stick that way,’ is it true?
Me: Well, not really.
Princi: And when Nanny says ‘If you watch too much TV, I mean television, that you’ll get square eyes,’ is that true?
Me: Well, no.
Princi: So our family tells lies, then?
Me: When you put it like that, I suppose so.
Princi: So stories aren’t true, then?
Me: Some stories are, but other stories that may not be true are called ‘fiction.’
Princi: Fiction? What’s fiction?
Me: It’s when a story is made up. ‘Coraline’ isn’t true, but it’s not a lie, so that is fiction.
Princi: So our family tells lies, then?
