CELEBRATIONS....

It's that time of the year - but not only have I been to a few Christmas events (I"m not really a party person - I tend to be the one in the corner watching everyone -and yes making notes) in the past few weeks we have had other celebrations.
My youngest brother turned 40 - that's myself, my brother and my sister - he was a tad 'happy' at this stage :)
We also celebrated my husband turning 50, good friends of ours turned 60 and 70 respectively.....and we also celebrated daughter's boyfriend's birthday.

And a wedding. This was one of the loveliest weddings I've been to in a long time. It was colourful and fun (everyone wore clothes bought from the Op Shop- including the bridal party) - it was meaningful and joyous.
It also involved one of the hardest pieces of writing I've ever done.  I was asked by the groom's mother to write a poem for the wedding. She had to read one and couldn't find anything she liked.

Hmm....anyone that knows me knows my style. Writing romantic love poetry is not within my vocabulary. I said I would give it a go....I ummed and aahed , thought of the couple, thought of what love is ... (and during this time my husband and I celebrated 30 years together ...yes 30 years since our first date)

So I began to write. I didn't want something trite and meaningless, I didn't want to include a line stating that the bride could reverse a trailer (sorry G) - I wanted something that celebrated love - but in my style. And after a few false starts, a few hesitant 'shouldn't I write like this' I went with my instinct and the poem came together.

Sometimes it's good to push yourself, expand boundaries. At the beginning of the year I would never have thought I would have written a love poem and had it read out at a wedding. Never.

Here's to pushing more boundaries in the year ahead :)

PS. Another celebration- I have in my hot little hands the MPU's latest collection - Land Lines : Anthology of Regional Poets, edited by Sue Gillett. Some great poets and poems in this issue (I have three poems in here)  - I've only begun to dive into it but what I've read so far is damned good. If you're after a copy contact Melbourne Poets Union.

Vicki

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