EARLY BARD

sun day morning
set the alarm clock to 6:15
then succumb to a lazy lie-in and get up at 10:30
indulge in a long leisurely sun day brunch
two large mugs of freshly ground coffee
ricecake left over from h's performance last night
piles of toast spread with rice oil and satsuma jam
j in bed with flu
h watching telly
but i don't breakfast alone
for the atrophied record collection
has received a welcome boost this week
with the arrival of 'jake in a box'
a compilation of songs by jake thackray
bless his dear departed soul
witty n quirky tales of yorkshire life
from the late 60s / early 70s
accompanied by lively rhythms on classical guitar
lyrics delivered in a droll yorkshire noel coward intonation
lines like:
'when we had so much to delight and distract us -
why did we cherish a perishin' cactus?'
and: 'a right soft pillock i looked with my cod and chips'
the self-depracating humour warms me
this man already feels like a dear old friend
though h has taken an immediate dislike to his voice!...
after a couple of hours
i finally pluck up the courage
to brave the spare room elephant trap
the piles of books literally collapsing their shelves
the photo album skyscrapers
the magnetic notice board
plastered with doctor's and dentist's receipts
endless mysterious boxes of who-knows-what
j's uncontainable storytelling materials
bits of h's toys and stationery and stickers
all multiplying like rabbits
extending into the four corners of the room
like octopus tentacles
engulfing my modest little recording studio set-up
my malfunctioning keyboard
smothered with photocopies and felt creations
my guitar effects pedals
swamped with mischellaneous litter
cluttering up space and mind
crazymaking
this is what the artist must contend with...
since coming back from tie-land
been experimenting with some new ideas
to nurture creativity
involving getting up early in the morning
to write the 'morning pages'
three pages of stream-of-consciousness prose
at the start of the day
innermost thoughts and confessions
to unblock
to get the creative juices flowing
to let it all out
but not to be shared or published
so can't share any of it with you lot!
this week i manage a spectacular two days out of seven
though i do at least crack the dawn five times
(up with the lark at four am on chewsday!)
the other experiment is an 'artist's date'
a weekly indulgence
a solo excursion of my choice
to pander to the creative whims of 'the artist within'
for the first week
i search for inspiration
among the rambling stalls
of seoul's namdaemun street market
inspecting the multifarious wares of the vendors
while keeping moneyclip well stashed in pocket
despite only partial success this week
i feel encouraged by what i've done so far
hoping to take things a little further next week...
two proud parents last night
see h's first performance
in the annual kindergarten show
h strutting her stuff on stage
dressed in a variety of little costumes
a few tears
when the straps of her ballerina dress keep slipping off
and her three-year-old partner
spins her around a little too brusquely
but the show goes off well
and we capture it
on the grainy video
of our snapshot camera...