Yesterday (Saturday1st May), I went to an amazing event, put on by friend and poet Colleen Moyne, where a group of poets/writers gathered together in Mannum, and boarded the boat waiting for us at Mannum Waters Marina, and we cruised the Murray River, looking for, and finding inspiration.
It had been many years since I’d been out on a boat and I felt at peace inwardly, as I rapidly wrote notes in the notebook I’d brought with me for the purpose. I wrote about the trees, the birds, the sky, the water, and the other people out on the water too. By the end of the two hour session, I already had a good start to a chapbook, with a photograph taken by another attendee lined up for the cover, and a title for the chapbook taken from Colleen being the name of the workshop she had put on – Words On The Water.
So this event has definitely woken up my mind to poetic possibilities, and this new little collection, which I’ll be working on today, for a while, and definitely tomorrow, for my Writer in Residence stint at Gallery 14 in Hamley Bridge tomorrow. I have written I think 5 or 6 poems already, from my notes, and there are still many words to be turned into poems as well as all of the words still floating around in my head from the great day we all had yesterday!
Being on the water, up close to it, and seeing Nature on the banks of the river – the trees, the birds, and the clouds up above, all lovely! I think Nature, being up close and personal to it, is an important thing for the poetic mind, I feel, for my poetic mind, anyway! Trees and I have a special relationship, and the birds are a part of that relationship too. All of us living our lives, but still connected in various ways …
Being there with other writers, most of of us, anyway, and most working with our minds, and pen and paper or laptops/mobile phones, I’m sure much great writing will have come from this day of inspiration. I know I enjoyed the words read out on the day!
Carolyn Cordon - Creative 