Countdown (21)

In a previous blog I explained how I used to write prolifically when I was younger, then took a short break of around thirty years.

During that time I wrote just one poem and that was in Maltese. My wife was doing research for a program on an educational channel which discussed the history and geography of Maltese towns and cities.

Every episode featured a song, poem or literary extract related to the town. The research was a lot harder than it would be today because at the time the World Wide Web was still in its infancy.

When it came to the Maltese town of Birżebbuġa both my wife and her co-presenter drew a blank. The deadline was round the corner so my wife asked me to help her with the Internet search

After for half an hour I decided it would be quicker to write a poem that to find one and proceeded to write about Għar Dalam a network of caves in Birżebbuġa where a lot of prehistoric remains have been found.

Għar Dalam had always fascinated me so it wasn’t difficult to find the inspiration to write a short poem. When I was ready I handed a printed version to my wife who was very pleased that I had managed to find something so quickly.

Then she saw my name at the bottom of the A4 sheet of paper and realised what had happened. With no other alternative available, the first poem I had written in years made it on to TV.

It took another decade or so for me to write another poem. My daughter was studying in the UK and I had driven over to pick her up for the holidays.

I remember being very early, so I stopped for a coffee and was waiting for time to pass sitting in the car. It was the kind of grey, damp day that makes Hell seem an attractive proposition.

I didn’t have as book to read so I started to scribble in the hope that the clock would move faster. It didn’t. The scribbles became more frenetic as I got into a rhythm a poem began to form. Quite unintentionally.

The end result pleased me, so I had another go at scribbling a couple of days later. Before I knew it, scribbling sessions started to become a common thing.

I decided to post a couple of my poems on Social Media and was quite surprised by the positive feedback I received. This encouraged me to start a knew Instagram account and so thoughts_by_steve was born.

A few months later, I discovered Instagram lives. I would pop in to these channels and watch the hosts read poems that were sent to them. They also had the ability to “invite” poets into the virtual room to read/perform their own poetry.

At first I was a passive participant. Listening in to the poetry whenever I could. By this time the pandemic had started and I had a lot more time on my hands. The basketball season was cancelled and I was working from home.

Eventually, I decided to pluck up the courage, and sent in a poem to be read by the host of one of the programs. I was curious to hear how the poem would sound if read by someone else.

It was a very strange experience. Hearing my poem being read by someone on the other side of the world.

The host, Angela Psalm, was very gracious and seemed to like the poem. The experience encouraged me to send in more of my poems to be read online, and eventually, I even plucked up the courage to join a live and perform my own poems. But that is a story for another time.

I recently had the pleasure of meeting Angela and her family in Camden Town. They were on holiday from Australia. We also met other poets in Camden. Some who had read my poems online. Others whose poems I had the pleasure of reading when I started my own lives on Instagram.

It was strange meeting so many people who I had only seen on screen before. We had lunch, and a very pleasant afternoon passed really quickly. Some of the group had to say their goodbyes, but a handful of us made our way to an open mic at a brewery. Everyone got to perform a poem or two and this time the poetry had legs 😀.

This blog is the twentieth in a series of 30 leading up to my sixtieth birthday.  Not every one will be about time travel. Please consider subscribing to my blog to keep up to date with my posts.

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