Ducks go a-poetting

I'd missed the original exhibition last month in the West Barn, celebrating the collaboration between the Bradford-on-Avon photography group and the Words and Ears poets, on account of having to take my mother to her triplet siblings' 80th birthday party, so it was great to get to the rerun at the Swan on Saturday, and see the artwork up close for the first time, as well as read my poem. 

Bradford was its usual glorious, green-and-gold summer self ...

... and my fellow-collaborator, Melissa Wishart, had done my poem proud. It certainly held its own amid an impressive body of work.

Much gratitude is due to Dawn Gorman and Pey Pey Oh for organising it all. 

On Sunday, it was poetry all day ... 

... as the IsamBards - that's David Johnson, Pameli Benham, Dominic Fisher and me - brought to fruition our latest project: poetry walks around the University of Bristol's Botanic Gardens. Two walks were scheduled - one in the morning, one in the afternoon - and we were blessed with goodly-sized, attentive audiences both times. 

And only the occasional spot of rain. 

Best of all, we were continually upstaged by the beautiful gardens and its inhabitants.

In fact, some of the plants were quite aggressive. These are Strelitzia, which seemed to be impersonating emus.

They even turn on poets! 

Rather more poetry-friendly were the ducks. 

Who knew they were so into it? 

The hen duck decided to join in and rebrand it a poetry waddle ... 

...

 

... until the audience clapped and she joined in with her wings. 

Back at home I gloated over the weekend's treasury of contributor copies ... 

... the beautifully compiled booklet of the Bradford-on-Avon collaboration; Dru Marland's new canal-themed anthology, Poets Afloat, in which I have a poem and about which there will surely be more anon; and the booklet of poems about the Botanic Gardens, which the University of Bristol has produced. 

Not a bad haul.

Photography and the Significant Loveliness Ratio

I have a new camera and it's a digital SLR!  (If you don't know what SLR stands for, it's Significant Loveliness Ratio.)  (And it isn't exactly new, it's new to me. But it kind of feels like an old friend already.)

Here is my first attempt at taking photo.  Somewhat out of focus.  Hmmm. Maybe Dru was a little too close.

Delia's looking grand, though.  

And Mr B has scrubbed up well.  

The next thing to do was to go up onto the Downs and try it out properly. Whereupon it rained.  

And hailed. 

And the car windows steamed up.

There was a brief respite - just long enough for an ice cream at the Sea Walls ...

... secure in the knowledge that I'll be forced to go on a jaunt very very soon to give it a proper try-out, eh, Ted?