Spring, Summer, and the Interesting Times We're Living In
We all need more poetry, flowers, and sunshine in our lives, don't we?!
Hej!
Summer has exploded in an unusual wave of warmth here in sunny Mariehamn! After an unusually cool May, we’ve had a week of 20+ degrees (Celcius). I feel strange writing that these are warm temperatures after living most of my life in a place where 40+ degrees was the summer norm but it really is warm. And a little humid. And pretty glorious!
The spring flowers have delighted me this spring. These glorious tulips planted near the town square, a lovely touch of colour. I’ve found delicate little flowers in meadows and trees have re-grown their lovely leaves. Birds are nesting and raising their fluffy babies.
Once again, time has passed and I realise it’s been well over a month since I last wrote here. The whole of April and May saw me busy with paid teaching work and writing poetry.
I’ve been immersed in words, language, the sound and feel of words on my tongue and in my ears. I also found the time to read more poetry, even purchasing a few collections (my eternal gratitude goes out to e-readers!)
April
National Poetry Month, started by the Academy of American Poets some years back, is a month-long poetry celebration, so I wrote poetry, I listened to poetry, I found new poets and new styles of poetry. I ended up writing over 30 poems in the month of April, publishing most of them on Medium.
Here are links to the collection of the first week of April, and the second and third weeks.
This snippet is from my poem, Springtime Sees You Dance, complete with original artwork (click the poem title):
you sing, quietly, a whisper
with leaves, fragile and green
springtime sees you dance
shimmer, rustle, as you dress,
carefully catching creature's
attention, with your ghostly bark
I wrote a poem called The Jackdaw. They’re a favourite bird of mine, although many people here seem to not like them so much. But they’re very clever and live communally, even pooling resources like food and shelter. I’m (very slowly) working on a story about them.
May
Creating so intensely for a whole month saw me slow down a little on the writing front. I wrote a few new forms though - two different Welsh forms. It was interesting playing with language and having strict rules to follow in terms of syllable count. It resulted in Clogyrnach poem called Feeling Whole, and a Awdl Gywydd poem called Let It All Shatter.
June
It’s officially summer here now! I’ve been walking a lot, taking lots of photos, enjoying the sun, going out in our boat. I’m doing a great little week-long short story writing course this week, through a lovely group I found, based in the UK, called Writer’s HQ.
I am certainly going to make the most of the long days (I woke at 2 am the other night and it was still light!). Schools have finished for the year and there’s a long summer break. I’ll be taking my first summer off since 2018 - although I was initially a little nervous about the bank balance (and still am tbh!), time to create, relax, and enjoy life is also important. So I’ve taken the leap, saved my Euro cents, and so far have loved the first week.
A Shout Out
I want to send BIG love to all my friends and family in Melbourne who have been doing it really tough with another period of lockdown. I feel like I’m living a luxurious life in comparison, with the ability to move around the archipelago, shops and restaurants open (wearing masks, of course), and summer weather here. They’re in winter now, have had months of strict lockdown in 2020 (111 days!), a few days again in about February, then this last two weeks. Mentally, it must be exhausting. I send them strength, thoughts, and good vibes.
As I am writing this, I’m actually waiting for my Covid test results to come back after we realised we’d been at a really isolated little restaurant in the archipelago on Saturday, the same time as someone who has since tested positive. We were in the right place at the wrong time it seems! We have no symptoms but will keep ourselves to ourselves until we get our test results back tomorrow.
These are certainly strange, unusual, and challenging times we’re living in!
We all need a little extra sometimes
The following resources have really helped me overcome feelings of despair in recent months:
BrainPickings, a wonderful project I’ve been subscribed to for about 12 years. Maria seems to often pick out the most wonderful readings, books, notes on life, just as I need them.
Sounds True is another amazing resource, with podcasts, courses, books, and timely pieces of advice that have helped me during the past few months.
Brené Brown is just wonderful. Her Unlocking Us podcast, on Spotify if you subscribe, or via her website, started just as the world shut down in March last year and the people she interviews are all incredible. “Conversations that unlock the deeply human part of who we are, so that we can live, love, parent, and lead with more courage and heart.” What more could you ask for?!
And where would we be without books? I highly recommend the short story collection, Flock: First Nation Stories Then and Now edited by Ellen Van Neerven, You Are Your Best Thing: Vulnerability, Shame, Resilience, and the Black Experience, edited by Tarana Burke and Brené Brown, and a little bit of fiction by Diane Setterfield called Once Upon A River.
Once again, thanks for tagging along on my little Nordic adventure. I’m grateful for your time.
Lisa xx