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Friday 17 February 2017

February reflections (getting back into poetry)


The flat-shaking drilling of the flood defence work has paused and the sun has come out, a rarity for the two to occur together, it seems. So for the first time I'm sitting out on the decking of the "new" flat we're temporarily living in. Pausing, this Friday evening, with a coffee, and if I smoked I'd have a cigarette in a poetic sort of way.

This week seems to have flown by but has also been pretty significant, in a whole bunch of ways. So I don't want to let it slip by unappreciated. Actually I was up until 3am last night just kind of buzzing with it all, which wasn't particularly helpful but I guess it reminded me I'm alive and no day is the same (and I ended up watching Luisa Omielan's comedy show which is pretty brilliant!)

The main thing is I've performed poetry twice this week, for the first time this year. Both nights were really positive and have enabled me to start building connections and feeling like I am beginning my journey of 'getting back into the Brighton (and hopefully beyond!) scene'.


On Monday I performed at a new Spoken Word night at Komedia. It was Alternative Valentines themed, I was part of a three-way slam (contest) with three poets and three rounds. I won the handmade heart in the centre of the photo above! Happy days. It did come at the cost of having to write a poem about "sexuality" in which I shared the secrets of our wedding night. Bet you wish you were there... Deciding on whether that will be a limited edition poem! The other artists and the audience were great, it was a treat to be part of.

Last night went to a night literally down the road from us in Shoreham-by-sea. It felt a little more Penzance-esque, this is a small but creative town after all. There was an eclectic mix of acts, and I was first up to the mic! I'll definitely be back.

I'm not sure if I've said before, but I'm definitely noticing that I feel different to how I was when I lived in Brighton before. Somewhat less overwhelmed by everything, more relaxed and confident maybe. More ready to go out and find and grab opportunities rather than wait for them to come to me. Which is a nice way to feel, and a reassurance that all the seemingly crazy decisions we've made the last few years have resulted in a lot of good too.

I'm hoping that confidence will stay with me as I continue to work on my Fringe show, which I am fairly frequently sh*tting myself about and wondering if it's actually possible for me to create something brilliant BUT I won't know unless I try, will I?! Tickets go on sale in March... please come! It WILL be brilliant ;-)

Also this week was Valentine's day (just in case you didn't notice). I've been thinking about writing a 'partner' post as part of my life-at-30 thoughts, so won't say much now except that our main romantic statements to each other were that we're so glad the other person enjoys food! My pebble-painting husband was away all week anyways, but he did come to the spoken word night on Monday and as ever I'm thankful for his support and coming with me to stuff that he probably wouldn't normally choose to!

In other news, my niece is as cute as ever and I'm very grateful for Whatsapp for proving it, I met my sister's boyfriend, ate a lot of roast chicken in London, saw an old friend do a standup comedy show (brave!!), the sponsored swim I was going to do in March has been postponed until June due to shoulder injury (not mine),  I'm really enjoying the comedy improvisation course I'm doing (more on that sometime too), my parents and great aunt are touring New Zealand as The 200 Club (the sum total of their ages!) aaaand I played badminton yesterday and WON! Booyah.

Let's see how the rest of February goes!

PS If you're bothered, I post more often on Instagram @kat_q and about poetry stuff on my Facebook Page


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