Jean "Binta" Breeze and Aoife Mannix

Here are the two poets I saw reading as part of Ilkley Literature Festival.

Jean "Binta" Breeze:
Ordinary Mawning

Aoife Mannix:

In the beginning...

In the beginning was the word, and the word was... silence!

It is a challenge to know what to write to introduce myself and my blog. I've been considering restarting blogging for some time, and have been inspired by my sister Anna's new adventures in Blogland Genesandjumpers.

Today I attended a poetry workshop as part of Ilkley Literature Festival, led by Ann and Peter Sansome of  The Poetry Business. I was scared, moved, excited, inspired and awed by the experience. Spending two hours in a room, writing, with a group of fellow souls, was a profound experience for me. So much of the time I feel isolated and different from those around me, an outcast, or a reject. In fact, even if I am peculiar, there are many who share my perculiarities!

Last week I went to see the poets Jean "Binta" Breeze and Aoife Mannix give a reading. Two women poets reading to an audience of almost entirely all women. One of them from Jamaica and the other from Ireland, and throughout both the audience united in chuckles and murmurs of recognition for the shared experience of womanhood throughout the world. Another profound, indeed transformative, experience for me. I am not alone.

I am going to write- poetry, thoughts, opinions, about my life. If it's boring, uninspiring or irritating, feel free to pass on by. My hope is that you will come by here and find some enjoyment in reading my work, maybe some food for thought, or even of a little inspiration for your own writing, even if it's only in thinking, "If she can blog with that dross, then surely I can too"!