Backache

I aim to write a short post this week because sitting in front of the laptop is uncomfortable. I have just emerged from a lovely hot bath (with make-shift jacuzzi jets) and will now probably undo all my good work, sitting here, typing this.

This week I have had a bad back. Badass Back. I have had a Bad Neck lots of times - it hurts a lot, but it doesn't stop you doing things. A Bad Back does. So, not one to waste physical pain, I have been thinking more about my next chapbook. I am interested in ageing. I am a person of only just thirty, but I am appalled by the cruelty of ageing - you learn how to do all kinds of things and then you do them for a bit and then you gradually can't do them anymore. I get cross about this as I see friends unable to do things they once could. But I am also consistently astonished by peoples' ability to cope and to get on with things.

This week I read a beautifully written book by Mal Peet called Life: an exploded diagram - a tantalising book in many ways and one that does not deny hope in extraordinary circumstances.

Finally I read Issue 28 of Ker Bloom!, a gorgeous letterpressed zine from Pittsburgh. Well worth a look, if only for the production. The zine has been running bi-monthly since 1996 - quite an achievement!