Friday, July 16, 2010

Time for 'une petite pause'

The thermometer is rising and guests are on the brink of arriving. It's that time of year filled with the scents of suntan lotion, chicken roasting on the spit, and watermelon...the time for wet footprints and sand on the kitchen floor... for bottles of chilled rose beading with condensation.

I'll be busy with family and friends from this weekend until the beginning of September, so I wish you all a wonderful summer, not too much sunburn or too much rain, and lazy evenings, and some days too, filled with laughter and the voices of good friends.

I'll speak to everyone in September.
L x

Wednesday, July 07, 2010

It's that time of year... for plums

...and also when the French start to wind down, kick back, and close up : ))

July and August tend to be the months when you don't try and get anything done. And here on the Cote d'Azur your life is definitely more stress free if you can stay off the roads as much as possible.

Last year AppleHouse Poetry closed up for two months too, but my spell in Wales in June ate up so much time that I'd rather keep going for at least part of July. I hope you'll keep going with me.

Recently, I've been reading William Carlos Williams' poem, 'This Is Just to Say'. It's a poem I know well, but each time I've re-read it, it's felt as enigmatic, and as inviting, as the first time.

This is Just to Say

I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox

and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast

Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold

Maybe I've become re-enchanted by this poem because we have a wild and very old plum tree in our garden here. The fruit is small, but incredibly juicy. You can not bite into them without an explosion!

Let's use the Williams' poem as a model, and let's 'talk back' to it.

1. Keep the same title: This is just to say...
2. Write three stanzas of 4 lines
3. The first two stanzas state something that has happened
4. The third stanza offers a response of some kind.

What do you think? I hope you'll join in. I'm already thinking of something I want to write.

Looking forward to reading your poems.
L x