1. 
   annamaria
   May 4th, 2009
   

   dear Jay,
   great to read all your blogs..as enthusiastic as spring itself. I’ve been working on a project in Cornwall for years called “Gardens for Life”, all about getting children outside, as even in Cornwall , lots of them don’t. the project works with artists, mathematicians, artists, inventors, poets , cooks etc…
   i do the poetry bit…but sometimes come away thinking”What am i doing?”, as children have come up with lines to die for that i would never have thought of..like..(about a winter tree)
   “The tree is an empty hotel”

   and (about a cherry tree in full blossom)
   “The tree is getting married to the bush
   the groom the sky..”
   interesting looking at your criticisms of your own work, heartening actually…as often the first few lines of anything i write is utter shite..and then usually gets better..and when i read it back..i write”This is utter shite” on it. it’s fab to put your self comments on the blog..as the bits that never usually see the of day are just as revelatory…
   annamaria

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2. 
   Jay Bernard
   May 5th, 2009
   

   I’ve had that feeling. Earlier this year, I did a load of workshops at a school in Kent. I came away thinking ‘what am I doing?’ not because the kids necessarily came up with anything, but because I wondered if I was teaching them anything at all. I went in for fun, rather than serious, but the more ‘fun’ things I do, the more I think traditional ideas about poetry need to be taught.

   As for the other post: oh, you should see my notebooks. Nothing is ever right. I am indeed my harshest critic, but only because it’s difficult to get such criticism from elsewhere. I’m always hesitant about writing anything because I wonder where it will go, if it will be any good, if there’s any point. Hemingway summed it up nicely: “The first draft is always shit.”

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