2020, The Year of Multiple Mediums

The pointy end of the year is here. So soon? I say this every year at about this time. Time. I think about it more and more as my mother fades, as I move closer to menopause with each month that passes sans menses. Yesterday I listened to this poem 'Dearly' by Margaret Atwood. You might enjoy it. Enjoy may not be the right word but then again it might, if you like your poetry slightly melancholy with a touch of black humour. 

    "So hard to describe the smallest details ... of how we used to live/We wrapped garbage in newspaper tied with string/What is newspaper?/You see what I mean?"

I reference Atwood in my biography of SIARAD. She and my mother share the same Christian names - Margaret Eleanor. Atwood's husband, like my mother, was diagnosed with dementia. He died a few years ago.

    "Don't think this is morbid. It's just reality." writes Atwood in her poem. Totally.

Audiobook Release: 10th December 2020

I mention this because time is passing too quickly and I forget which month I'm in. Because deadlines. Because SIARAD the AUDIOBOOK was due out this month (Or was it last month? You see what I mean?) All the recording is complete and I can now promise a December 10th Release. I am not shitting you. Details and links soon.

I didn't do much live performing this year (thanks, Covid) but performed in online spoken word events instead. I showed up for Slams hosted by Enough Said Poetry (Wollongong NSW), Bunker Spoken Word (Sunshine Coast QLD), Perth Poetry Club (WA) and Melbourne Spoken Word (VIC). Many other poets I know got involved in international events but I was just too tired. Too many Zoom rooms for work and poetry can fry one's brain. And I only have one. Brain, that is. It needs much rest.

In future news I have decided to perform SIARAD the SHOW in the Adelaide Fringe 2021. This may be a dickhead decision (see previous paragraph about rest) but I am having fun exploring the same material in multiple mediums (Mediums or forms? Language is so hard). Jeffrey Zhang, the Audio Engineer I worked with on SIARAD the AUDIOBOOK is going to travel from Sydney to Adelaide so we can present the audio live. This makes me very happy. I have stars pulsing in my belly just thinking about it. More about that in the new year.

Pretty soon I'm going to have videos of me reading some of the pieces from SIARAD on my Youtube Channel. I learnt how to use GarageBand this year and am trying to grasp the fundamentals of iMovie too. Who knows? The older I get, the more willing I am to make mistakes, and then laugh about them. I'll let you know about the SIARAD the VIDEOS when they start happening so you can laugh at my mistakes too. And who doesn't need a laugh right now? So laugh, damn you! Then go get some rest.

C x