Eggwirtz studio
Everyone introduced themselves and Steve explained the theme and introduced the 'mathematical' element. 'What?' No-one actually said that, but I could almost feel the thought filling the air. For me, however, this was just another box ticked. I love numbers, patterns, formulas etc. That doesn't make me an expert, it's just that I find numbers fascinating and when we were all handed a very informative sheet by Steve, who must have really done his homework, this new world of mathematical poetic forms was pumping up my inspiration levels very nicely.This felt great, because I have been troubled with writers' block for lengthy sections of this year, struggling to find sparks of inspiration, and at times, even the will to write anything at all. And now here I was in a poetry workshop with folk I knew and admired, pumped with inspiration, eyes on a blank page and pen in hand. I felt like a greyhound in the traps, waiting for the off…..well, just polishing off another custard cream first. I zoomed in on a Pi variant, a PIEM, ha ha! And looked at the sample by Sir James Hopward Jeans, based on the number of letters in each word, mimicking the decimal Pi, 3.14152926535897932384….. and so on. I remembered Pi from my old school days, emphasis on the 'old' as being 22/7, so I planned to write a piem with 2 stanzas, one of 22 lines and the other with 7.There ensued a comfortable silence as everyone put pen to paper. My poem…oh, forgot to mention, as usual, is written in Lanky Twang!
Twenty Two Over Seven
T' mathematical decimal number of Pi
Guz on fer ages an' ages,
But wen I wer a lass in skoo days past
It wer different on ower pages.
Twenty-two over seven, she said,
An' I believed that teacher o mine,
Decimals wer just comin' in
But we didn't give 'em much mind.
Today I learned about John Hopwood Jeans,
An' ee's long-lined piem an' wot it means.
Each word 'as letters matchin' decimal Pi
So I giz it a look o're, wi mi gud eye!
Then, cuz I'm a bit OCD,
I noticed summat didn't feel right to me,
So I counted t' letters in every word
An checked 'em against decimal Pi.
Letter counts wer all correct,
So I checked again and wonder'd why
I wer still convinced ther wer summat wrong,
But wot wert problem catchin' mi eye?
Compelled to re-check wi sum surprise,
I determined to finish this exercise.
So now I've written twenty-two lines
An' even managed to mek 'em rhyme,
But did I find wot caused mi grief?
I bet yer wond'rin wot it is.
Ok, I'll reveal wot put me outta joint,
Ee's letters matched all t' numbers
But ee sadly missed THE POINT !We all read or talked about our efforts, had another tea break. Kate's reputation as a host rose even higher when the whole packet of Custard Creams headed my way (he he!) I proudly refrained from being a total pig and just had a couple more.
we talked about our efforts
Then we got back to writing again.This time I chose the theme of 'an object'……tough call in a place like this with soooooo much to look at. It culminated in a kind of thank you poem to Kate, in the form of a sonnet.
KEW Studio Sonnet
I'm in her studio,
Eyes roaming walls and spaces,
Pausing here and there,
Stopping to stare.
Colours fill the air,
Soft shades and bright hues,
But a black and white creation
Ignites imagination.
Is anything really as black and white
As the canvass on display?
In Sun's shadow, or Moon's light,
Is day, day? Or night, night?
In her studio with much to amaze,
The black and white canvas holds my gaze.
And then, time up, my lift arrived, it was time to say good bye and head off, clutching my notebook, with two new pieces, achieved in one very enjoyable afternoon with tea and biscuits, chatter and laughter, good company, catch up with friends, and a wonderful experience…..my first poetry workshop. (Big smile and cheesy grin!)
My thanks to Steve Rowland and Kate Eggleston Wirtz.
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