I'm thinking I should start giving my poems titles. Poem 3

Especially if posting poems becomes a regular thing. However, once I've gone through the poems in my notebooks, they'll grow more sporadic. I can always post short stories as well :) We shall see.

I won't explain this poem, it's elusive, but I hope it says something to you. It doesn't need to be profound, so don't worry too much :)

Poem Three

She sighs. She reads well, 

talks of poetry and death,

heaven, 

and its change from infancy.

What is this nonsense?

Outcries my brain.

I'm reading poetry 

now, 

and writing it. 

This one was written while critiquing Wallace Stevens' Harmonium. 

Yes, I have a new layout, it's purrty. Poem 2

This poem is an interpretation of my lecturer's dislike of the use of exclamation marks and angels in poetry. I get his point, there are times and places for these things, and never because the poet or writer is lacking the suitable word or metaphor. So, enjoy my little parody of what a poem shouldn't be:

Poem Two

Angels! Glistening
like turgid jelly
on the moss. Overpowering
with their poetic
grace. Look!
I say
they are angels!


In other news Astrid may actually be homeless in a couple of weeks... More on this later if the events I'm hinting at actually take place.

More other news: I've joined Blog Action Day 2010. This year's focus is Water.
Taking a gander at my profile, you'll see that I'm a swim teacher. More to the point, I'm an Instructor of Swimming and Water Safety, but just say I'm a swim teacher.
I also live in Australia, a country where there is almost always water restrictions in some part of the country at any given time.
My point to all this, is that Water is a simple concept that many people take for granted in terms of safety and as a commodity. So on October 15, I'm going to do a post about my passion for these two aspects of Water.
I encourage anyone reading this who has a blog, to join in. If you're doing NaBloWriMo, it will be a great thing to post about.

That's it from me until tomorrow, where I will return to the serious (but not too serious) with my poems :D

This one's a little dark. Poem 1

The following poem was written during a class where we were discussing The Well Mouth by Philip Salom, an Australian poet. It's a dark collection of linked poems all concerning death in one way or another. I'll try and post a link to the book on Amazon, if there is one*.

Poem One

Take my life

and keep it

It is my present

to you

Guard it,

so it's safe

I'll be gone awhile

*Here's the link. They misspelt his name.

Mini Poetry Posts

I have been thinking...

I have this poetry critiquing class at uni. Sometimes while taking notes, I will jot down a small, (ir)relevant poem. At the moment I think there are only three or so, possibly only two. But would any of you like to read them? Just for a laugh?

Ps I will post them anyway :)

Happy

Before writing this post, I had this thought: the reason Art is and always has been around, is because humans need to know that they're not alone. Whatever the situation, there is a piece of music, literature, film, theatre, poetry, visual art, dance and more to fit it.

I've been listening to Happy by Natasha Bedingfield a bit lately (I downloaded the album after seeing Easy A). And it seems to be eerily parallel to my life at the moment. Let's take a look at the opening lines:

Landlord's knocking at my door/cussing me out: my housemates and I were given a Notice to Remedy yesterday after failing a house inspection. If we fail the next inspection, we'll be given a Notice to Vacate.

Got laid off my job the night before: I still have a job, but might not for long if I end up homeless...

Can't figure how/ I'm gonna fix tomorrow when/ yesterday's still a mess: Late uni assignments, housework, social life, work... you get the picture, the usual student stresses.

I wish that I could step away and breath/ this world's tryin to swallow me/ clear away the clouds inside my head: This is just generally how I've been feeling for the past few... months I guess, on and off.

Now for some happy thoughts:

1) Writing - I finished the first draft of my Creative Project manuscript. I've started editing now... it's exiting.

2) I have many incredible friends who are awesome in their own right, as well as being supportive when I need them to be.

3) My family - always there for me. I love them and I'll always know that they love me.

4) I'm good at my job, and it's fun.

5) Spring! Sun! These things never fail to make me smile. I've been waiting all winter for them.

6) I'm starting to get into the mundane, everyday stuff that makes me happy, so I'll stop this post here.

7) Check out the song, it's good for lifting your spirits.

Love it.

So, not off to a good start with the NaBloWriMo thing. But here is my first post and I will do my best to post for the rest of the month (fingers crossed). Here's my reason for not posting for the first three days of the month:

I'm up in Sydney visiting my dear family. The weather here is cool but the humidity is creeping in again already. Unlike Canberra where as soon as the sun goes away, it's cold again.

On to other things, like what I really want to post about today.

Positive body image. It's one thing that I've always been fairly good at maintaining. Mostly thanks to my Mum, who never allowed me to diet, and always encouraged me to maintain healthy habits for just that - my health.

Of course, I always have those bad days - everyone does. This morning for example, and yesterday. For some reason, just looking in the mirror, wearing outfits that normally make me feel good about myself, I felt... (now, I really hate the connotations of this word) fat.

The sad thing is, I know I'm not fat. I know I'm curvy, in a good way, a way that I usually like and am definitely not large. But for some reason, I was feeling bleugh.

Now, writing this at the end of the day, I feel better about myself. I just kept thinking to myself - you are a healthy, active individual, and skinny does not equal healthy all the time, curves are gorgeous. Out and about this afternoon I caught a glimpse of myself in a shop window and felt happy with what I saw.

My point to all this... I have friends who have terrible self esteem about their body, or admit that they know they are hot, yet are constantly striving for 'perfection'. This is an issue that applies to many women and men. The statistics are more concentrated on young women, but it affects people of any gender and demographic.

I also want to emphasise that just because I am saying that big is beautiful, I am not saying that thin is ugly. All sizes are beautiful. I think people many people would lead happier and much healthier lifestyles if they accepted who they are, and grew to love what they saw in the mirror.

The Body Positive is an American organisation run by a good friend of mine. The aim of it is to reach people and educate them on how to love and care for your body without striving for the One idea of what people should look like that is seen so often in the media.

As a last note, I feel I need to explain my feelings towards the word 'fat'. The word, especially in Western societies, brings to mind ugliness. Some people are bigger than others. This is okay, but the words I think should be used are big or curvy. They do not imply the same thing as 'fat'.

Part of my problem is watching my friends use the word as if firing a bullet charged with hate towards themselves, their mouths twisted. Big and curvy are words that conjure beauty in my mind.

Finally, if anything I have said in this post offends anyone, I apologise. I do not apologise for my opinions, but only if they become misconstrued.

Mishmash

Hi hi,

I'm in a flat mood today, so I feel this blog will not be as full of exclamation marks as usual. Possibly that's a good thing though, as F Scott Fitzgerald did say that using exclamation marks was like laughing at your own jokes. Oh dear, that might be what I've been doing in all my other posts. Cringe.

Anywhos, I have a few announcements:

1. I'm joining NaBloWriMo, because I thought it might be a good idea to actually force myself to use this blog more than once a month.

2. I now have a twitter account! And I will add a follow tag on the side of my page for those intersted :)

3. I don't talk about my swim-teaching much here, although it is one of the joys of my life - I love teaching this valuable skill to kids, and seeing them improve each term, because of ME is amazing. Sorry, I'm getting clucky, ignore me if you like.

So, I'm doing a Towards Competitive Strokes course this weekend, and I'm looking forward to it. It'll help me instruct kids on how to do butterfly, breastroke, and the other strokes with more finesse. I'm doing it mainly because I've never been sure of butterfly, and now I will feel more confident in my teaching ability.

4. Last post, I promised to let you know how my CP was going - it's going okay. I'm still on the first draft, and I'm at 10450/15000 words. I can't wait to finish the first draft and edit it down.

I should mention that I'm having lots of FUN with it. I can write freely for the first time in my degree. It feels good to have free-reign over my characters for longer than 15oo words.

So that's me for the month, until I start NaBloWriMo, in which you'll be hearing from me every day. Are you quaking in your boots yet?