Friday, January 03, 2014

Is a blog the literary equivalent of a selfie?

I didn’t post yesterday because I spent my blog-writing time reading January – December of last year’s blog. There was a lot of stuff in there – anxiety, stress, complaints, love, enjoyment, achievement, and a couple of sustained periods when I counted my blessings because I was feeling so low.

Oct 09 020

(I wish I could persuade Dave not to take these stupid tilted shots)

Every now and again I lose my nerve with the blog. I wonder if I should be sharing my feelings online. Is it a bit self-obsessed when there is so much suffering in the world?

Then I read another post on Megan Young’s wonderful The Scent of Water blog, in which she shares her everyday life – her thoughts, her feelings, her difficulties, her joys and blessings, and so much more. Her blog has been a source of inspiration and comfort to a lot of people for a lot of years. (And she writes so well.) Personal blogs are OK in my view, because they keep us connected - “We read to know we are not alone.” And being connected to a woman in New Zealand who i have never met and will never meet is a pretty amazing thing.

Today I want to share a poem with you – Ridge Walking by Char March. She has given me permission to publish it here.

 

Ridge Walking

this

is my life

out here on the edge

windy here

-a narrow ridge

often I am scared

have to squeeze my eyes shut

hug myself to the rock

crawl along on all fours

mumbling mantras

but sometimes I dance the thin line

whirling in the sun

shouting in an arms-up

head-back laugh

this is my life out here

a slim chance

with steep drops on either side

but Christ the views

are bloody marvellous.

 

© Char March    Ridge walking is published by Indigo Dreams in Char March’s latest poetry collection The Thousand Natural Shocks  and is available direct from her, or through Amazon.

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