2006: poetry, hate crimes in the news, and a loss still keenly felt today
It’s an entry from 2006 that, every year since, gets an impressive flurry of hits around GCSE exam time. Thankfully, I know the information I posted in Carol Ann Duffy: A Beginner’s Guide, all about one of Britain’s most successful poets, is correct—but really, despite GCSE results around the country usually being quite good, it concerns me that kids are still using the Internet for last-minute revision despite all the warnings that, when it comes to study, books should be used and not websites that haven’t been given a stamp of educational authority. I mean, I know the stuff I wrote isn’t fiction, but I agree with the advice. Sites like Wikipedia are most often used, despite anyone being able to contribute to them.
tags: 2006, archives, bereavement, Carol Ann Duffy, cats, China, David Morley, Dolly, Iran, poetry, retrospective, UN, US, Zimbabwe2005: Rowan trees and big changes
2005 began with what I described as a ‘death in the family’–that being our family of pets, and the death being one of our terrapins (turtles). We’ve still got the remaining three today, though of course there have been other deaths to deal with since then. Later that year I lost a dear friend, Tony Grundy, who was dying of stomach cancer but somehow managed to slip away peacefully in the bath one morning. He remains to this day in my thoughts often, for he was my mentor and guide, always seeking to encourage me. Since his passing I’ve had to find much of what he gave me from within myself, most likely instilled by him in the first place, ready for me to access when he was no longer around. But 2005 wasn’t all sad news and loss, far from it—this was the year that my partner and I sold the London flat and moved to the countryside of West Yorkshire. My beloved’s career took off within the year, and I enrolled on the MA in Creative Writing that would see me immersed in the study and writing of poetry for two years.
tags: bereavement, change, Druidism, environmentalism, faith, love, magick, pagan bullies, Paganism, Reclaiming, retrospective, rowan trees, Witchcraft
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