poetry – Write. Snap. Click.

February 17, 2023March 14, 2023

Thirty days of creative fervour

It was a random Tuesday, the 16th of January to be precise. I was scrolling on my IG timeline when I bumped into a post on New Comma’s page about a creative challenge, in which participants would have to create something, anything, based off of a daily prompt for 30 days. I immediately shared the post and typed in ‘let’s’, and then proceeded to do just that.

For thirty days, my days were filled with turning over a single word or phrase, looking to my immediate surroundings but mostly inside myself for the ‘thing’ I could create that day. Some days were harder than others, with what I considered a ‘boring’ idea only come to me mere hours before the midnight deadline. But some days I could write something, take a photo or shoot and edit a video within hours of seeing the daily prompt. From ‘Play for keeps’ to ‘Jaws of life’ the people from The Rule of Thirds Podcast sure did keep us on our toes.

I would say my favourite part of the process was how intentional I became about carving out to time in my day to plan and execute whatever came to mind; and the knowledge that everything I did end up posting was a first draft that was just given a little love. I hope to carry the patience, confidence and capacity to create doing this challenge has left me with. The daily pressure sometimes drove me to the corner of Give Up and This is Too Hard but so proud of myself for moving through those moments.

Most of my submissions are in the slideshow below, videos excluded because I don’t have a premium account and cannot share the originals as my account is private (let me add that having a public account again was a nightmare – spent half the time blocking porn and Bitcoin accounts).

Day 1 – Playing for keeps
Day 2 – (Green) Flag(s)
Day 3 – On cloud nine
Day 5 – What comes up must go down
Day 6 – Anticipate
Day 8 – Cook
Day 9 – Guide
Day 10 – Down to the wire
Day 11 – Urgency
Day 12 – A shot in the dark
Day 16 – Repetition
Day 17 – Plug
Day 19 – Foaming at the mouth
Day 20 – Element
Day 21 – The plot thickens
Day 23 – Mountain out of a molehill
Day 24 – Reputation
Day 25 – Situate
Day 27 – Fool’s gold
Day 28 – Minimise
Day 29 – Rehearsal
Day 30 – Jaws of life

Special shout out to my girls Premiere Pro and Rush, Photoshop, Audition, VSCO, Canva and the Notes App for making all of this stuff with me 🙂

December 21, 2014

Free The Word: A literary gathering

I attended a night of poetry and literary goodness in a jazzy place earlier this month. Finally got down to editing and packaging this short(ish) video of what transpired that night, enjoy.

May 31, 2013May 31, 2013

Be Drunk by Charles Baudelaire

[Translated by Louis Simpson]

You have to be always drunk. That’s all there is to it—it’s the only way.
So as not to feel the horrible burden of time that breaks your back and bends you to the earth, you have to be continually drunk.

But on what? Wine, poetry or virtue, as you wish. But be drunk.

And if sometimes, on the steps of a palace or the green grass of a ditch, in the mournful solitude of your room, you wake again, drunkenness already diminishing or gone, ask the wind, the wave, the star, the bird, the clock, everything that is flying, everything that is groaning, everything that is rolling, everything that is singing, everything that is speaking. . .ask what time it is and wind, wave, star, bird, clock will answer you: “It is time to be drunk! So as not to be the martyred slaves of time, be drunk, be continually drunk! On wine, on poetry or on virtue as you wish.