Even when winter sadness nips, even when parents are ill, every day I remind myself how lucky I am to be doing what I’m doing. To be working with who I work with – genuinely fantastic, intelligent, fun, and intriguing people – and to be encouraged to write!
Today here’s a short blog post about process – my current “pencil only” notebook* is, as a friend put it, the “under the bonnet” bit of writing. (* I have different notebooks for different writing purposes!) Thanks to the University’s Poetry in Practice sessions, and a theme challenge from Dr Sam Illingworth, I’ve written a new poem – possibly not completely finished – in the form of a Ghazal (let’s call it a “sort of Ghazal“). I thought I’d share my writing process for it in order to demonstrate how a piece progresses. Have a peek under the bonnet!
So, what’s your process?!
Ghazal for the Battery Girls
No gilded life, still she tries to fly. Turn gold;
the sun is setting. Spark in her eye – turn gold.
Dusk is settling, her sisters: a feathered mass.
Hens compose a discordant cry. Turn gold.
The liberators – silent shadows in black plumage –
snip razorwire in half-light, no one will die. Turn gold
when freedom is complete. Battery barn empty of promises.
Re-homed as sunrise paints the sky, return gold.