State of Mind

Hi Jenny, this is really good! So much so that it's difficult to pick out highlights! But sod It I'll have a go! an infant once swaddled in a cocoon lies anxiously ready to suckle, his appetite an insatiable desire, fear searches the passages of my troubled mind, remembering the cries...the threats like a knife to my throat...submerged in my stumbling fatuous destiny Just a couple of bits but there are more many more! Fabulous!

I second that. Fabulous, indeed. Rich

It's all already been said above. A great piece of work Jenny, and rather a departure from your usual style. Linda

I really enjoyed this, Jennifer. Strange how different people pick different favourite lines. This is mine:- "touching the threadbare filaments of fine wadding, I withdraw strands...each one extracted like the fabric of confidence that was once mine." Brilliant.

Hi there, Jenny, a fabulous piece and for me, these lines said it all:- '...submerged in my stumbling fatuous destiny, staring at the black bag laying prostrate on the floor,not unlike a cat at my feet' Just a tiny point - small typo in yours, should be 'prostrate'. This, and your last poem, a real departure from your usual style, and it really does work, as the cherry is testament too. More than well done, and I hope your Saturday is going well;-) Tina

This is inspired writing, Jenny. Excellent! Coral x

Congrats on the cherry Jenny it’s well-deserved a fab write.

Hi again, Jenny. Just popped back to say what a wonderful sight that must have been. Deer are such majestic creatures and so very beautiful. Our garden is literally overrun with rabbits at the moment, that have really taken a liking to my summer bulbs (gladioli and lilies to be exact) and my cabbages and broccoli. They are so cute, but I do wish they would go and live somewhere else;-) Tina

new skinner_jennifer Wow! what a diamond poem this is. I agree with all comments. And bit about bag! like a black cat! Poem says so much! Like the way all is woven into it, like a patchwork quilt, like a pattern meaning! I used knit Beatrice Potter Peter rabbits 15 inches high take a week! Strange how State of mind can receive things different so true! But busy now and get out too! How did you know have the black cat in for while! Hope all is well for you. Not too great at moment! Well deserved cherries!

Ideas do come out of nowhere, and I doubt if anyone will ever get to the bottom of where they come from. I've just written and posted a new poem that literally started writing itself in my fool head, and I had to get it down before it fluttered away forever even though though I'm knackered and I had a million other things I was supposed to be getting on with today. The missus will kill me when she gets home from work, because the house looks like my kids have been living in it - which they have, and it's not good.....

I went through a nasty bout of depression last year, Jennifer, and if I didn't at least try to write I don't particularly want to think what would have happened to me. It was my only truly personal lifeline, the only thing beside the love of my family that I could cling on to. Now I'm feeling much better, but like you, if I can't write for any reason (or paint, to a lesser extent, when I have a mind to) I feel very irritable. The things that reasonably intelligent folk write are completely different from the stuff that comes out of their mouths in general conversation, it's an insight into the soul of the individual you can't get many other ways, and it's the best therapy in the world.

Oh Jenny so sorry to have been away and missed such incredible writing. This is quite wonderful, it's so right and I identify with every line. It's rather like how I try to write but you do it so much better. What have you been taking in my absence? Can I have some?

new skinner_jennifer Hi! Jenny, not quite right! I mentioned patchwork quilt woven, as your lovely poem,has so many things in. Patchwork can be crotchet,knitted squares,or even coloured materials. My nan would teach me,when I was small. The Peter Rabbits of Beatrice Potter,knitted patterns. One can get paper patterns too most toys. Sorry if confused you. Just off to bed,feeling brighter thanks! Hope your well to! Nite nite! julie xx

Jenny you are a real class act. I'm just not sure you know how good you are. And so enviably prolific too.

A little something I wanted to share concerning the mystery of where story ideas come from. My niece (she's twenty one or thereabouts) changes her Facebook profile picture every few days as girls do. Also, she's adopted the middle name 'sheep' on Facebook for reasons that she refuses to discuss. A couple of days ago I was on there and she'd put up the usual 'Rachael has changed her profile picture' and in place of her usual beaming face was a dark green, shadowy something that I couldn't at all make out. I left a swift comment, which went something like this:- "Did you wander off after the rest of the flock just before the camera clicked, or is that an extreme close-up of a courgette in a darkened room?" Rachael posted a different picture a second after I pressed 'send,' and I assume my comment went straight to digital heaven (or hell) with the deleted photograph, and right now it might be at the bottom of a murky green ocean sleeping with some very odd fishes..... The phrase 'Extreme close-up of a courgette in a darkened room,' as daft and incongruous as it sounds if you're not privy to the story behind it, will not leave me alone for reasons I can't get my head around. I think it's a story demanding to be born. It's going to be a difficult one to start off, I reckon, but the phrase 'the mahogany hippopotamus' came to me one morning just after I woke up (it may well have been a hypnopompic vision), and I managed to get a lot of mileage out of it, so who knows? Now I've shared it I want to tackle the story, but I can't for a good few hours yet.....