Sunday 26 April 2009

Hi Karen

So lovely to see your gorgeous self alongside with the cutest swishest,sexy car. Well done. Yes, we could well to follow the idea of the poetry juxtaposing two alongside. Amazing how well it works.

I know haven't been using the blog, but the group have been busy beavers, (American expression, don't think we have beavers). Today was a delight we had a rehearsal for our lit festival performance of 'On the Sandringham Line'. Luke Serano came and played wonderful music on his Saxophone. We were thrilled to have Sandra his mum,somehow engage her delightful son for his time, let alone all the equipment he set up for said performance, and talent for the rehearsal. in May. It is going to be quite some afternoon in May. Music, poetry, wine cheese. Wish you were here.

I will send all Coast Liners an email to have a look at the blog so they can share your poem and see you standing there in vivid sunshine, talking with us online. Shame on us, here is Karen in America using our blog and we are remiss. So let's get blogging.
Since you departed we have some new members. Now have 15 members are have become quite a presence in Bayside. The Leader has given some time to us and the all important Melbourne Weekly has also mentioned our group. In July we will read on radio and will definitely be a presence at the Lit festival this year.

Maybe Tricia will send some photos of today. I took some, but am not yet trained to use flikr. Tricia is going to teach me.

We miss you.

Cecilia

Greetings from the 45th parallel--NORTH

G'day Mates!

I miss our group!!! I haven't been writing much poetry, have been focusing more on creative non-fiction, because I was in a class. Also, I think it's easier! Here's one I did write not too long ago. This was also a result of a workshop. The facilitator suggested we take poems on two subjects that we'd been working on that perhaps we were having trouble with. Then see how you could interweave them to make something new. You might want to try this.

Builder’s Error

It was meant to be intimate--
a cozy deck for a tete a tete,
a resting place for humble, bare feet,
but it juts out prominant as a ship’s prow.

My sister calls, says, It is not a tragedy.
Only five of the lymph nodes hosted cancer cells,
dirty squatters we had hoped would be evicted
with the removal of her breast.

The deck dominates the yard,
flaunts its hubris as if to challenge
the wind.

Flatten yourself against the earth;
try to become unnoticeable.

I wake at 2 filled with anxiety.
It’s not a tragedy. It can be fixed.
It will just take longer and cost
much, much more.


Anyway, my sister is doing well, coming for a visit this weekend with another sister. She's finished w/chemo, has some hair and things look good!

Hope you are all well. Please plass on my thanks to Dave for recent comments on my blog--I don't have his email address. And Tricia and Annetine, it's nice to hear from you! And, Cecilia--we're overdue for a phonecall!

Great to see that most of you are now authors on the blog--but WHERE ARE YOU! No posts since Feb??? Tsk, tsk. I'm sure you are busy writing. :-)

Cheers,

Karen

PS Car is our new toy, a 2007 Pontiac Solstice. Appropriate colour, don't you think?

Jeff and the Connex connection

For some reason having difficulty emailing to you Geoff. But have written to Ali at Bayside and she is thrilled at the idea of you contacting Connex. She probably would be able to talk to them to should you wish a back up as to credibility. After all, we may as well use as much push as we can get.
Cecilia

Congratulations Annetine

Bravo, persistence pays off. And we now can communicate together on the blog.
Geoff's picture comes up really well and am delighted that he has bothered to display it in the blog.
May I encourage you all to continue using the blog.
Tricia will be back at the next meeting.
We will be going on radio later in the year. Should be fun.
Shall keep posting on the blog.
How about if we have a poem for next month we first put it on the blog, which gives others a chance to read it and think about it before the meeting. We seem to run short of time quite a bit.
signing off in 42 degrees and climbing.
Cecilia

a surprising tentative step

at last ... having jumped a huge hurdle .I now wonder what that was all about. !.....will now move ahead....... feels good to be here Thank you Ian and Celia for your patience in getting me through to this point Annetine

A thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains

The picture I wrote about didn't reproduce very well on paper so here it is in JPG format. Click on the image.

Sunset over Bodega Bay

This is beautiful Bodega Bay where the movie The Birds was filmed many years ago. It is not far from Petaluma where we have been staying with Heidi, Ken's former partner who is now like a daughter to us.
We are now on the home stretch. Left Petaluma yesterday for four nights in SanFrancisco then we drive through Big Sur, spend two nights on the cliff tops overlooking the Pacific Ocean at Ragged Point, four nights in Redondo Beach (20 minutes from downtown LA)then home, where hopefully all heatwaves will be over.
Rod has chosen another hotel with a literary theme here in Frisco, The Rex. We dined in the restaurant last night and the bill arrived poking out of the pages of a 1909 book on mathematics. Himself said he had probably studied this very text back in the dark ages when he was a student.
The bar has an old library setting, complete with musty smelling books and deep comfy chairs, with writers desks, complete with old typewriters, along one wall. They even serve literary themed cocktails which I intend to try while I am here. Cecilia the Poets cocktail has midori in it, so appropriate I thought. Was too tired after walking around Sausalito yesterday afternoon to take in the names and all the ingredients but I will do some research and get back to you.
Have not yet put pen to paper regarding train poem but promise to knuckle down when I return home (after completing the dreaded December BAS for Mr Taxman)
Hope you are all managing to keep cool.
Tricia