Second shortest poem I ever wrote....

I have decided to start posting a few of the poems and the short stories I have wrote over the years which I either aren't entirely happy with (and therefore haven't deemed fit for human consumption) or which I have just forgotten about.

I have decided to start with the second shortest poem I wrote back in my very productive poetry period (productive meaning quantity...the quality is debatable). This is actually a poem I am reasonably happy with even if I didn't exactly achieve the aim I started with which was to write a Haiku about environmentalism. Nevertheless, within the constraints of the form that I gave myself (and where I somewhat missed the point...I enjoyed the rather common misconception that Haiku's took the form of 5 syllables, 7 syllables, 5 syllables).

I hope you enjoy this, it may prepare you for some of the more clumsy attempts which are to follow.

It is rather pretentiously entitled either The Future? or The Future is Now.

The Future? (or The Future is Now)

Look at the sky die,
Listen to the birds cry, cry,
Smell the flowers sigh.

A rather lovely picture from www.simplyhaiku.com

Note to self: Sometimes you can be productive without realising it

I promised myself that I would start writing a little something, no matter how short, every day with the intention of getting the old writing muscles exercised ready for a period of intense writing over the summer (whenever that starts).

I was a little surprised this morning when I woke up ready to get a lot done and noticed that I haven't produced a blog post, or a news post for another side project of mine (I will be linking it to this blog at some point, just getting it going) since last Tuesday.

My promise lasted all of two days.

But then I went through my digital history since last Tuesday and since then I have submitted five short articles which I expect to get paid actual money (a pittance, but a pittance is better than gratis).

I have also created two articles for associates of mine which have been published and worked on a short story and a poetry collection that I am hoping to have ready for publication before the end of this year. So all in all it is not a total loss.

I have to remember that not all writing will be on the forums I prefer, some will be drudgery for the pennies and some will be drudgery for potential future pennies. But all writing is experience at writing and is to be celebrated in the lifelong learning curve.

So in honour of that I intend to publish a short poem that I wrote onto this site later this evening. Keep your eyes open peeps.

Happy birthday to the eldest product of my loins

Say in the knowledge that she won't read this I wish to wish  my eldest daughter a very happy 14th birthday.

I know what you are thinking, how can a debonair 21 year old such as me have a 14 year old birthday. The answer is simple. I have been 21 for almost 15 years.

Worry not, I have no intention of giving up the secrets of the philosophers stone which I purloined from my good friend Nicolas Flamel shortly before he sadly passed away.

Happy birthday Niamh...

Every Day is Fathers Day (and it rocks).

So yesterday was fathers day, a day designed to make fathers feel slightly guilty about not being better dads.

I was afforded the luxury of getting up early with the wee bairn and doing my own breakfast and looking after him and his cousin while my partner went and spent the day out treating her father. Treats which included going out for breakfast with him at his expense and taking him to the cinemas to watch a film they both wanted to see at my expense.

I aren't complaining, my youngest wee bairn is only four years old and there is no way I can expect him to be looking after me. His cousin is the same age.  They spent six hours doing what four year olds do, that is to say playing loudly, arguing loudly, crying loudly and for the sake of variation making demands. Usually loudly. My day was spent facilitating and playing with a small element of feeding and consoling thrown in.

Then, in the early evening, my partner returned home so I took my youngest wee bairn over to see his siblings who live with the ex (his cousin had been picked up by my brother by now, she didn't just get ignored. Well...at least not very much).

They are a touch older, all being over ten years old. They had gotten me several gifts, which I found very touching. We spent some time playing, I helped my youngest daughter with her homework and then we watched an old episode of Doctor Who before I was sent home.

When I returned home I turned my mind to work and for a brief period my thoughts weren't on my children- but during my...ahem...research...I happened to go on a popular social media site and saw it was full of posts from fathers saying how great a day their children (or partners) had made for them, the special efforts that had been made to make this day extra special for the fathers.

The other stream was of people making acerbic comments about stay-away dads and former partners (and these I felt really sorry for, because they are entirely missing the joys of being a dad).

It got me thinking have I missed something? Should I have demanded royal treatment for the day? Should I feel aggrieved that nobody had bought me roast dinner in bed and tucked me in and told me a bedtime story?

And the answer is of course not. The joys of being a father isn't one day of being spoiled, it is the time every day that you are with your children being a parent. Playing with them, cuddling them when they fall over, helping them with their homework, these are the things that make being a father special.

For me every day is fathers day...and it rocks.

History is a romance...

The other half is currently watching "The White Queen", based on the Phillipa Gregory novel of the same name.

I have not had the misfortune of reading the book and the fifty minutes or so of this I have been able to hear while working have convinced me to stay well clear of reading it in the future.

I can appreciate that narrative necessity allows for the embellishment to the known histories, yet the tensions that are created with her family are too trivial to hang a novel on and the character of Elizabeth Woodville, after a promising start of seeking out the new king to claim her rights, turns into a weak character who is dependant on the men around her and on her mother.

Of course, the novel may be better. Novels typically have more depth and subtlety than television adaptations. It could also be the case that the story is supposed to follow her growth into a woman of strength, a character worth watching and a variant of the classic quest. A journey of self discovery is a valid story but I don't feel that there is any self-discovery here.

It could be the case that the narrative is focused on how she overcomes the obstacles of the court in accepting her as the rightful queen, but that story in itself is far too shallow to make for interesting reading.

I am not having a dig at Phillipa Gregory, I have not read her stories but I know they are valued by many. But from this adaptation of her novel it certainly seems that "The White Queen" is only a shallow stream where it could have been a raging river of a story.

New year, new direction, new commitment...

It has been a long time since I wrote anything in this blog and I think the new year is  perfect time for me to rethink my approach to the blog.

My initial intention with this was to write a something at least five times a week on any topic that came to mind. I managed that for over two months, but then work and other commitments distracted me and I stopped writing regularly and eventually not at all.

I am currently out of regular work and, I am doing a bit of free-lance research and hoping to get a bit of ghost writing, but I am not doing anything much. I have decided to use the extra time to get back on top of writing my own projects. I have finished one flash fiction this week and started work on another short story. I am also close to completing the script I have been asked to write for a friends film project, a project I am very excited about. All in all a good few weeks on the writing front.

This renewed writing vigour left me to ruminate on what to do with this blog and I have decided to continue it in a new manor. I am hoping to post regularly, although maybe not five time a week, and it is now going to focus on my thoughts on whichever current area interests me. At present it is the inter-relationship of narrative and ideology, and to that end I am intending to write my thoughts on different aspects of popular culture and how these can be understood in terms of narrative.

These blogs will be intended to help me develop my own thoughts, so please feel free to challenge me on all of them. I am always open to honest criticism.

I want to make it clear that I will be trying to look at this dispassionately, my reading of the narrative will not be an endorsement of the narratives ideology, merely an attempt to recognise it and understand how it is effective.

I hope you all enjoy the new direction for the blog, and I look forward to some very interesting and challenging comments.

I hope you all have a happy and fruitful 2013.

Mixed feelings about Thorn's dismissal.

Sorry, another football blog, and my first post in a month. I really need to find more hours in the day.

Yesterday my beloved Coventry City Fc, I shall pause here to say Play Up Sky Blues, announced the departure of Andy Thorn and the start of a search for our twelfth manager in as many years since dropping through the Premier League trap door.

It was with mixed emotions I received the news from a friend of mine. He started my expressing the belief that the club we both support is a joke and I was quick to agree with him (for a full list of reasons you will need to research the history of the club starting from the day Bryan Richardson said we were going to have a punt). Of course, at this time I was still unaware that we had sacked Thorn, I was just generally agreeing with the notion of Coventry City  being a joke (PUSB) and when he dropped the news that Thorn had been dismissed I can honestly say I wasn't surprised. Many fans have been on his back from the first few games of last season and having been relegated and then starting the new season with three draws the pressure was always going to be there.

The news he had gone was not a surprise in the slightest, not even the timing of the sacking. Conventional wisdom, or common sense, or whatever you want to call it says you either sack him at the end of the season he gets you relegated or you give him a fair crack of the whip in the next season, say ten games, to show he can turn things around. Certainly, once you have decided not to sack him at the end of the season and you have given him full backing to re-build the squad, you wouldn't expect to sack him after just three games. Add to that the transfer window about to close, preventing the new manager any chance to tweak the squad. That would be the worst option of when to dismiss him.

Although not if you are the board of Coventry City FC. When we left the Premier League we kept Strachan for a similar amount of time.

Of course Tim Fisher is right in saying things aren't right, and it has been clear to the fans for a long time that Thorn has limitations as a manager. From the purely footballing side of things I am relieved he is gone, but it still doesn't stop the anger at the timing.

Then there is the issue of the fact I actually like Thorn. I am sure he is the kind of guy that I would happily drink with down my local, he seems genuine. He did a great job as a scout for Coventry City (PUSB). He was loyal, and he guided the team through the most difficult season in our history, and probably one of the more difficult seasons of any team other than Portsmouth. So I can't help but have sympathy for him. I feel somewhere along the line the club (PUSB) has let Thorn down.

Finally there is the thorny issue (pun not intended) of who will replace him. I am happy to see Shaw and Carsley in the caretaker position. They know the players and both have history with the club (OK, both being part of the team that got us relegated from the Premier League isn't a great endorsement but history is history). But I am uncomfortable with appointing somebody with no experience as a manager. We need an experienced hand.

Gary Megson was an early favourite and I had the misfortune to see his West Bromwich Albion team on a number of occasions. To Megson I say a big no. The same can be said for Alex Mcleish. Having almost done the unenviable double of relegating Birmingham City and Aston Villa in consecutive seasons I don't see any advantage.

There are two names that we have been linked with that I would be happy with, Both are unlikely, in my opinion, for different reasons.

Andy Morrell from Wrexham would be my first choice. He is young and hungry as a manager, he hsa done well in the time he has been in charge at Wrexham and he is a former player who I felt was a little unlucky to be played out of position for most of his time with the club. I can't see us approaching him for the simple reason of compensation. Coventry City (PUSB) have well documented financial problems. Whoever we hire will need to be unemployed.

The other name I have heard is Gareth Southgate. I think he is a decent manager and a good guy. He is happy to bring youth though, he was in charge at Middlesbrough when Johnson and Bate etc.. where getting games, and he is also available on a free. But of course, his wages will be higher than most and he already has a job working with the FA and as a commentator. He also doesn't know league one, his playing and managing career have pretty much exclusively been at the top level. He is unlikely to galvanise the fans- I like him but many fans don't share that opinion, and he still has a lot to prove as a manager. But I think he would do a good job,

A lot of the reason for me favouring these two is down to the lack of competition, the vast majority of other candidates are people I really wouldn't like in charge.

And that is another reason that I have mixed feelings about Thorn going, I might not have felt he was manager material but I don't think much of most of the candidates to replace him either.

Whatever happens I wish Thorn luck wherever life takes him, he is a good guy who was not quite up to a very difficult job,

And fingers crossed the CCFC board can make an inspired (or lucky) decision when appointing the new manager.

Play Up Sky Blues!!!