Hello! So it's been a while... BUT... So, OMG where to start - so I won the Manx Litfest slam AGAIN whooooohoooo - 3rd time! And I've launched my 2 poetic epics, but first, I need to massively rant re my health which has been arrrghhhghghg....
Anyway, I'm due to start new meds any day now, but no idea why, when I live THE most intensively tidy lifestyle this illness still continues to bite so hard - I mean, I nearly beat it twice through plants and exercise - but then the pandemic... And so this year I thought, you know, I'm not going to be quite so strict because I am tired, I'm in pain, the steroid jabs seem to do sod all and neither does methotrexate, and not much else is helping - which all makes me hate everyone and everything just that little bit. I'm therefore going to buy chocolate once in a while and maybe have the occasional meal out because they're nice things to do. I mean - this is me proper pushing the boat out - so I started buying 90% vegan chocolate (immediately addicted by the way - that stuff is lethal). Eldest nearly choked on it because apparently it's that rank, but to me it's like eating god - (DON'T kick off - no god needs your self-righteous indignation) and the bloody stuff STILL makes me flare! I mean, I occasionally hear people talk about stuff like hangovers and I just think, wow, imagine being able to mistreat your body like that - imagine! And like, on a regular basis???? As if this wasn't enough (sorry, not finished yet), my nervous system has also started to massively lose the plot, so my entire life has become a balancing act of 'what the hell next?' And every time someone says, 'but you look well,' I want to commit a crime of unspeakable violence. I also want to swear by the way, which I've heard upsets people who don't realise that I'm literally a push to kill timebomb - oh you brave souls. Anyway, I will NOT be beaten - not by health, not by morons, not by chocolate. Movement is a privilege and that's the whole thing - we have to keep going... So, within all that (and the pandemic), I somehow managed to launch On Ravensdale Hill and Asila's Song as two poetic publications! These have been very kindly sponsored by the Isle of Man's Arts Council and I am so, so, overwhelmingly happy I've got this far in my poetic world. I mean, I know it means little to anyone else or in the grand scheme of things, but poetry is the voice I never knew I had until 2017. It's a special place where I can meet and hang out with special people, and also something I can mostly do when I'm not so well. It calms my mind at night or when it's off on one, and it takes me on voyages all over the place. Most importantly, it keeps me curious about life and people and it helps me process this crazy world. And... There's not much more to say. I feel hugely privileged to have discovered words and even more privileged that I have the ability to share them - through performances but now through my books! I am very very VERY lucky - oh and I also wrote a poem about that, but I'm not sure it's one I'll ever share. Anyway, if anyone ever reads this blog (I kind of hope not as it's really just a diary of sorts), the books are a tenner and available from Bridge Bookshop OR me directly - best via quirky.im I suppose as that supports quirky too. £2 from each sale goes to Manx Wild Bird Aid too as I adore birds... 'Not Without Wings!' I hear your cry. No - the charity I run gets enough of me and seronegative Rheumatoid Arthritis gets enough of me too. My poetry doesn't need to be touched by that sorry (except for murder nights!). And... as for the above poem! It has nothing to do with either book but Asila the Mask does feature in a cameo, non-speaking role, as 'The Mind of the Magician, Dr Alexander Cannon.' At least, that's the poem I think I've shared hahaha have a lovely day everyone <3
0 Comments
|