3 Little Questions

Some questions that may may make you think:

Try and answer them all

1) The three books which have most influenced your life

2) The three famous figures who have inadvertently played a key role in who you are now

3) The 3 songs which mean most to you and why....

My answers:

3 books: I love Margaret Atwood's 'The Handmaid's Tale'. I met Margaret Atwood at a book reading and while she was signing my book I was registering the light behind her eyes. It was amazing. The Handmaid's Tale is a completely unique comment on the idea of Utopia and feminism and scared me as well as intriguing me at the same time. I found it haunting and addictive at the same time...

I also love 'The Women's Room' by Marilyn French. I read this for my studies and realised that even feminists can be trapped by domesticity on occasion..

My third is a battle between 'The Female Eunich' by Germaine Greer and 'Written on the Body' by Jeannette Winterson. Ms Greer is a strong, much hated, but also highly intelligent and sensitive, strong woman. People slate her for not being a mother and not adhering to female stereotypes. I've seen her called ugly, but I think she is beautiful in her own right.

'Written on the body' made me feel raw. I have read a few of Jeanette Winterson's books and been unmoved, but this book made me feel like I had had my skin taken away and my soul bared raw. I've made everyone read it and they have all been astounded by the imagery. Gorgeous!!!

3 figures are definitely:

Labi Siffre: A black gay poet and singer who wrote 'Something inside so strong' in aid of getting rid of apartheid. He is my hero and has been my inspiration since I was 15. I met him and bought him a drink after his poetry reading where ony 6 people attended. It was the most amazing day of my life
I also love Toni Morrison. I had a daunting speech to do and watched Toni Morrison a week before. She is a respected professor of English and a Booker Prize Winner and yet she was nervous reading her book to an audience of a few hundred at the South Bank in London!!. I got her to sign my copy of 'Beloved' and again she had a light behind her eyes which I could sense. Her nervousnessness ironically gave me the strength to believe in myself..
My Third is a comedian.. Lee Evans!! I have seen him act, sing, do comedy and also used to be a boxer. He plays piano and has a humility for his multi-talents. I suppose I thought he was cute but also respected his abilities. I think it's a rarity these days to be able to do so many things so well and have an attainment in all of them!

My songs are as follows:

'Something Inside So Strong' by Labi Siffre. The song he wrote for the Apartheid and the song I used to keep me 'strong' through all my a level and degree exams!! It still does!...

Extreme's 'More Than Words' . I was 17 years or so old and life was crap. My best friend had a car and picked me up, put me in the car and we drove in the rain. It was silent, I was distressed, Extreme came on the radio, what more can I say. We drove through the night and I will never forget him for that music and him just driving......

M People's 'What have you done today to make you feel proud'. I was deading files recently and this came on the radio I was listening to as I did my menial duties. It reminded me of who I was and although I felt low from the menial rubbish, I still felt a small flicker of hope. There was also an intyerview with Heather Small, the singer who stated that the song was to encourage us all to live our dreams etc.. Who am I to disagree.

OK Now it's your turn, let us know your favourites...

Rain x

Never Finish What I Start!

Ok, so I sit down and feel full to the brim of unbridled creativity, the words are flowing in my head or the images are there screaming to get out and I start.. The words pour onto the page and the paint goes across the paper but then BAM...
If I am distracted, especially when I'm writing, I don't complete what I began in ernest so few minutes before.

I think I've come to the conclusion that I am only able to do something creative which is instantly gratifying-like a short story, prose or poetry, but when it comes to a redraft, or if the story takes me longer than a day to complete then I'm lost.
For the first time today I had the most beautiful and complex poetry in my head that I think I have ever been able to write and it was flowing into my brain as I walked home. For the first time also, after writing the said beauty into a small book I have for the purpose, the poem lies, as I write this, still unfinished.
It's like the only motivation I have for finishing something creative is the promise of someone reading it. After all, if noone reads it, I may as well keep the poem/prose/picture in my head and save the energy of the toiling pen or paintbrush. Then I get to thinking that the world is full of writers, painters and dreamers like me and in my case, writing does not ease me financially or gain me respect or prestige so why do I do it.

I wonder whether I am really suited to the act of writing long eipcs or whether I am suited to writing full stop.
I also wonder whether somewhere along the way any of the great artists or writers ever felt what they were doing was an empty gesture like this.
Anyone have any similar experiences or any advice to increase my ailing attention span!!
The creativity is there it probably just needs to be channelled properly, I don't know!!

Thanks Guys!

Confused!

Was browsin and responding to a few things on the site earlier and noticed that my posts had 'warn' on them and '0%'
Call me stoopid but was suddenly worried I'd posted something that had offended someone.

Can anyone enlighten me as to what this 'warn' message under my profile means??

Ta muchly

New Poem

You Inspired me today:

You inspired me today
as I walked through grey streets
and looked into eyes without dreams.
But you inspired me and I felt your face
burn a hole in my purse
from where you smiled out at me.
Your thoughts kept me sane
as I walked alone
and angels awoke from their
drifting sleep
to remind me
of life
and of hope.
And it's because you were there
and inspired me
Today.


Rain xx

New!

Hey all!!
I'm a newie as well and have even had the guts to post some of my poetry on the website!!
Hope you will al accept me as part of mata's clan.

Rain xx