Dog ate it….

I could lie and say the dog ate my words, like homework when you were a kid…. but I won’t. I could say my laptop’s poorly and needs a few days in hospital to recover….. but I won’t.

However I will get my excuse in early, just noticed that I’m supposed to post two big blogs on the same day tomorrow here – but as I’m working all day, have a gig tonight, with the mighty Dreadlock Alien, Spoz and Emma Pursehouse…(still learning my lines of a few new pieces ready to lose their virginity tonight, so have a head like a washing machine full of jumbled up words – you know that feeling!) then have to catch a 7am train to Manchester tomorrow for 72hrs working…. and not taking my laptop with me …. so I won’t be online to blog here till monday – so apologies, but words will flood out then belatedly I promise.

With all the talk of mentors and mentees on here, I keep thinking we need to buy packets of mentos sweets and bottles of coke to do that fountain thing I keep seeing……

Graham Kershaw is a brilliant portrait painter who specialises in ‘Poetraits’… he’s done loads of top poets like Ruth Padel, Roger Mcgough, and lots of Brummy ones, and I was in line  this week – a surreal experience, as I was holding the 2 objects I’d chosen to represent me and my work – so a mango in one hand, and a bohdisattva in the other….. then he painted my eyes out, but has assured me they’ll be back in soon:) Mentor Jo Bell is next on friday, so will report more – although one of her objects is her narrowboat – she’ll be on Channel 5’s Britain’s Strongest woman if she can carry that in one hand! I told her we stripped naked on a bearskin rug for the portrait, but I think she knew I was just tripping…..  Now we’ve got to write a self portrait poem about the experience to go with an animated version of the pictures – all very technical, will let you know more when it’s finished. Have you written a self portrait poem before? It does seem like a running theme for visual and verbal artists…. so type in a link to any of yours online, I’d like to read some more……  I think mine might be called, ‘So I am a girl after all.’