Golf & some small successes

Some good news this morning - the Bird and Moon 55 word website (http://www.birdandmoon.com/55words/) has nominated my 55-word fiction, "When the phone rang", for their Readers' Choice category awards, and you can find the story here:

http://www.birdandmoon.com/55words/readerschoice.html

under the February category. If you like it, please vote by 20 April! Many thanks! It's nice being shortlisted for a Readers' Choice in anything - a first for me indeed.

And I see also that the Momtazi website (http://www.momtazi.com) has now published my poem, "One small song", in their writers' gallery section, and you can find it here: http://www.momtazi.com/Gallery/index.php?do=poem&action=cat&cat=3. Heck, that feels nice too!

This morning has also been marked by a lazy lie-in and our complete non-attendance at the Palm Sunday service. Hell, I don't feel guilty at all. Which, I suppose, must be progress of a sort. I'm still intending to grace the church doors with my presence next week at Easter though - so I hope nobody keels over with the shock.

The majority of the day has been spent playing a wonderful round of golf with Marian & Siegi - though Siegi can't play very much at the moment due to recovering from a recent shoulder operation, though he did manage a few shots on the walk round with us. But we were not too bad at all, especially off the tee. Though I seem to have perfected my trick putting shot of going round the hole a couple of times before actually dropping in. Now if only I could work out how I'm actually achieving that, I could probably make a fortune. Hey ho. Lunch at Marian's was also very pleasant - and I've also been very brave (pause for astonished gasps and the odd cheer) as when the subject of church came up (which it sometimes does in their company though they're not church-goers), I admitted that I'm having something of a break from it. Lord, but I felt brave - it's quite rare for me to tell the truth when a social lie would be so much easier. Maybe I'm discovering a personal morality at last? Goodness, but my mother will be pleased. Anyway, we had a short discussion about it, and they were surprised but sweet, so I've lived to tell the tale. Phew.

Tonight, I'll have to finish packing for my three day conference in Nottingham next week (Monday to Wednesday) and then I have a slump in front of "Persuasion" on TV planned. It's my favourite Austen novel, I think, so they'd better do it well. It's got some hot boy chick (whose name I have forgotten - Rupert Somebody or Other? - but I can't be arsed to get off my ... um ... arse and check it out, sorry) in the role of her long-lost lover, so if I don't like the production at least I can admire the totty. Hurrah.

If I get a moment, I might well also start scribbling a poem about one of the paintings I saw at the Royal Academy exhibition on Friday, as I can feel the ideas quivering under my skin (yes, it's weird, I know but it's the closest description I can find to how I feel ...), but I doubt I'll finish it tonight. Which will be irritating as I usually like to finish a poem on the day I start it, or I get twitchy. Gosh, that's me well and truly out of my poetry writing closet, isn't it? Usually, when the poets I go to listen to start talking about how many weeks they've spent on their verses, I nod wisely and look sympathetic - but to be honest I haven't a fecking clue what they're talking about. If I haven't finished a first draft in an hour and polished it enough for public comment and advice after another hour, then I lose the will to live. I may well change stuff around later, of course, depending on comments received and my own instincts, but it's really only fiddling. Get 'em out, get 'em written, get 'em filed is what I say. As you can see, I have many hidden poetic shallows ...

Talking of which, here's this week's haiku (which I suspect is more of a thought I'll expand on into a larger poem later, so just call it a marker poem):

The Death of Marat:
One pale arm hangs down,
eyes contemplate peace while
the bloodied bath grows still.

Oh, and as I'll be away from Monday to Wednesday, I won't be blogging till Wednesday night, but I hope the start of all your weeks is as good as possible!

Today's nice things:

1. Being in the running for a Readers' Choice
2. Online publication of a poem
3. Golf.

Anne Brooke
http://www.annebrooke.com
http://www.goldenford.co.uk