possibly the last post of the year

this isn't the big end-of-the-year post. i might have some things to say about 2006, but not this morning. i'm leaving for my parents' tomorrow and will try to think of a few things to say while i am on the train.

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christmas was quiet. watching pippi långstrump (pippi longstocking) and emil i lönneberga (emil of maple hills) has become a tradition. some channel is always showing a couple of those films on the 24th. not much singing, but nice food. and a bit of bubbly. no snow this year, not that i mind that much. it was a treat to receive quite a bit of christmas mail - both snail and e-mail. thanks, you lovely people out there! spending my days (and much of my nights) reading poetry (very impressed with louise glück's meadowlands, some good stuff in 180 more, and quite intriguing pieces in c d wright's steal away), writing, been going over the collaboration manuscript, frantically trying to catch up on mail (pathetic really *L*), talking to friends, working a little, doing some shopping, and i am starting to worry about work.

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i am still writing every day. i know i said i would not force myself to, but i think it has become such a habit that it feels funny not to try. the last couple of days have been tough, but i did not want to give up. that's so like me. :)

latest poems:

day 101 - sulphur (s) - blonde
day 102 - bromine (br) - west of callisto, nine minutes past twelve
day 103 - boron (b) - east of the sun, seven minutes past five
day 104 - vanadium (v) - fólkvangr, between midnight and dawn
day 105 - iron (fe) - southeast of mars, two minutes past winter
day 106 - titanium (ti) - northwest of titania, ten minutes past eight
day 107 - Sonnenizio on a Line from McClain (He says: I'll write you a sonnet, a ballad, a poem ...)
day 108 - phosphorus (p) - southwest of venus, eight minutes past dawn
day 109 - the loneliness of the long-distance lover (an abecedarian)
day 110 - december mattinata
day 111 - thirteen things to do while waiting for your lover (another abecedarian)

so as you can see, i have returned to my periodic table series. and it seems as if i am developing a series within the series. i'll have to get a lot more research done when i am back in vienna. most of the elements poems are based on or inspired by paintings, mainly miró lately. and i am quite obviously hooked on abecedarians and sonnenizios. i had been warned. :)

here's my latest:

thirteen things to do while waiting for your lover
(an abecedarian)

assume a new identity every quarter hour:
        be saintly, paranoid, the lonely owner of a

cat. butter a slice of bread on both sides.
        drop it. frown at the result and repeat your

experiment seventeen times; take notes
        for posterity. sing a song he doesn't like.

gather dust balls and put them on a shelf
        high above your head. plant a baby spider

in the middle of that cosy nest. go and
        jot down three questions for him: one that

keeps repeating itself, one containing a
        little bit of weather and traces of music.

make the last available in five languages -
        no morse code, no braille, no invention

of your own. practise oddly puckered lips,
        prepare your tongue for unfamiliar twists.

quit something. anything. sudoku. zen, a
        road to nowhere. replace with new addictions.

search anagrams for patience is a virtue -
        train active pie use; stir cutie, naïve ape!

unhinge a door. lose interest in pot plants.
        verify a rumour that involves him and a fruit.

write a five-step manual: how to play the
        xylophone with closed eyes: do re mi fa sol.

yank out the phone cord. count back to
        zero from your chocolate bar's use-by date.

my turkish friend özge is in vienna at the moment, with her boyfriend and another couple. we met up on thursday for a chat and a drink and some lovely ice cream, and i'll see her again this afternoon. i am sure there will be a few pictures to post eventually. it's lovely to see her anyway - we have known each other about nine years or so, and only met once, in budapest in 2002.



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if i don't speak to you or blog again before 2007 - have a great new year's eve, and a not-too-hungover start into the new year. may it bring whatever you wish and hope for.

song of the day: oh yeah by roxy music.