stars and wings

I have fallen in love with my world!

This epiphany has happened as a result of three things - I bought a book of poetry, downloaded some songs and watched a DVD. They sound like ordinary things, but to me they're magical.

The book of poetry is count me the stars by kylie johnson. There are 73 poems (I think) and I haven't read them all yet, although some of them are only one line long ('maybe geography made us friends').

Some are written sideways, in circles, in all different font types and sizes. The paper is brown and speckled and the book itself is covered in cloth (my favourite type of cover).

It all makes for a tangible, tactile experience of words and meanings.

Each one of the poems is beautiful, each completely unique. I'm not sure I have a favourite. Anyway, none of them have names, so I couldn't tell you which it was.

This one makes me smile:

you carried an umbrella
because you thought it would rain

it didn't






but i love your optimism

There's just something lovely about it.

Or this one...

and next he said:

'how tiny it is we whispered
winter has gone beneath
the misty places of your shadow...

ships are my language
and light your storm'

I find them just enchanting.


The DVD I watched was of Cirque du Soleil's Varekai. I saw the show live at the end of 2006 and bought the film, but never watched it... until now.

I have to give credit to Varekai for being the spark for the novel I'm currently working on.

It was the image close to the beginning, the image of Icarus falling, his wings whirling as he tumbled through the air, that lit my imagination again.

And accordingly, that scene is the hinge of the novel.

It was so strange to watch it again. There's something about it that captivates me, sweeps my breath away, lifts my soul in wonder.


The songs I downloaded are Loreena McKennit ones - folk, roots music. I was selective and just chose a few (except I loved one so much I bought the album version and the 'live in Paris' acoustic version too).

I feel as though her songs tell stories, even the ones without lyrics. And they lift my mind to places that only exist in music and words and images.

They make me wish my novel could have a soundtrack, so people could read each scene listening to the music I heard as I wrote it.


The novel feels as though it's writing itself. It's a heady feeling.

There are elements I'm not yet satisfied with and it's still very fluid in form and structure and style, but every day it becomes clearer and more beautiful in my mind.

Hence the peace and delight in my current state.