Week Two: Lists!

Week Two: Lists!


I walked into week two of November’s creative challenges without having consciously decided the theme for the week. I seemed to spend Monday racing around, trying and failing to meet the day’s micro-challenges I’d set myself on my internal  LIST OF THINGS TO DO.


And so a theme was born: Lists!


Please feel free to browse this week’s creative offerings and send in some of your own too!


With a note to the last entry: Something’s Cooking. I made a tasty word-meal for you, it was written about a relative who is no longer here. Having consulted a family member, we agreed that the poem could be misinterpreted and so was not so appropriate for posting on the w to the w to the w.


Some meals are the kind of food you should only serve at home.


Onto Lists!




November 15th


She Gets Things Done


The Squirm

begins.

Racing ahead to the future,

stomach left behind

looploop

ride

grasping for the safety bars

strategy and frame

if she could just sit down for one minute and write a list of all she’s done this morning –

she catches herself.

Smiles at the absurdity

of Projected Reality

as it sprints neck and neck with Urgency

to a future where she is so productive.


Where did she get this notion?

This finish-line marker

chalked ahead of herself?

She grabs the chalk and draws faces on the pavement.

Balances on one foot.

Throws questions up in the air and sits down smiling

as warm rain falls gently.


She’d like to stay here a while.



….



Fat Freddy’s Drop have written a beautiful lyric which I had posted up on a noticeboard for a long while:


‘The race is on and I’m quickly standing still,

’cos I have faith in something more than my will: soul’


Just thought I'd share that.

….



 

Listen


As a word,

not particularly inspiring

cold

and clammy to the touch

a little bit dry

a little bit damp

Lists.

Listening to the radio on Sunday

I heard the words of a Jewish prisoner of war.

He was murdered,

Exterminated.

A number in a long line

List.

He,

a composer,

had once said

all you can take with you in death,

is that which you have given away

to others in life.



 ....



Weds 16th November


Lists


The list I heard today was someone else’s

Intellectual property

So I can’t tell you what was listed.

That’s classified information.

Class-ified

well-presented degree

like a CV


Who on earth are we pitching to?

Really?

Why do we play puppet games and take it all so seriously

this ‘ME’ we

present to the world.

Wonky measures and milestones

sights set so keenly on other people’s goals

that we miss seeing our dreams.

So attached to the thought of the

Gilded prize

We lose

connection inside.


Tell me a story.

Make it up if you will,

but make it yours!



....


Thurs 17th November


Listless


Standing in aisle 9

weathered scrap

hanging from his hand

jacket, once puffed up,

now out of puff

smothering his solid

tired frame.


For half an hour

indecision has

held him here

the bright lights of

variety at such a price,

the stuffing and filling

of baskets and trolleys

plastics sacks.

The motion

of many,

many

announcements call for action

but something

has him

hover.


So much seems

suspended

on the finger of choice

pointing to something

beyond the

metronome wag

of eeny meeny miny

more.

What was it

he had forgotten?



 ....



Friday 18th November


Registration 1


Hands up

who is

present.

Hands up

who is

away.



Registration 2


Yes Miss

No Sir

Yep

They’re away

-

-

-

Daily roll call

Clock on

Sign in

Tick the list.



Registration 3



Mrs. Preston

decided to

test her psychic skills.

She would lead registration

with eyes shut and students silent.


“On the count of three I will begin.

I will call your name – please do not respond.

I will intuit

whether you are here

or not”


inky wand resting on desk

purple twinset

the Mystick’s

cloak

Mrs. Preston closed her eyes

and went onto a higher plane.


Twenty-four magic words later

she returned to

class 4B


still silent


who had performed

their very own

disappearing

trick .


          




Saturday 19th November


Tick

Tick

Tick

Tick the

list

Tick

Tick

Tock

Against the

clock

Tick

Missed

Tick

Missed

Tick

Tick

Twitch

Tick

Tick

New

List

Tick

Tick

Stick.

Stop!


General Notes: Lists, from what I've written this week, seem to have a negative feel or at least a sense of drive (things to be ticked off) and structure, that can be helpful or can be a hindrance.  I thought I’d focus on writing some more positive lists and the more playful exploration of the above Registration series.


I started with a list of things that I love about my partner, but then felt that actually I didn’t want to share those things publicly here and now in this context. So, I decided to aim for something more universal, less personal – which is something I want to build into this project more and more.



World to Humans. A love letter:


I love


that you try so hard


your unquestioning acceptance of my support

under your feet


when you tickle me

as you swim in my waters


I love


when you stop to notice me

see me

feel me


the funny stories you make up about

how I came to be


when you all get along




I really feel your love for me then.



....