Did you hear the Fanfare? Fill your holiday with magic (and a copy of my new book!)

Wizard's Guide to Wellington

Yes that right - it's all very exciting some time last week my book "Wizard's Guide to Wellington" hit the bookshelves in Wellington, and for that mighty effort I would love to thank my distributors Greene Phoenix, and my dad, they both managed to get the ball rolling without me so the books are now available in many of the independent bookstores in Wellington and online.  Hooray!

So where have I been?  And when is the launch.  Due to extenuating circumstances there is not going to be a launch as such.  What will happen is Rona Gallery is going to be putting on an art competition with the theme "The Magic of Wellington" 6.30, 14 February 2013.  There will also be signed and numbered copies available as soon as I can organize my way out of a paper bag. Still, now my daughter is out of hospital, and things seem to be on the mend, I'm still expecting to make a come back to the Tuesday Poem blog for the New Year.

Until then Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and best wishes to you all, cheers,


A.J.

A.J. Ponder's books are available through Rona Gallery, Amazon, Paper Plus, Arty Bees and good Wellington bookstores.

(paid link)

It's not the Tuesday Poem: Samwise's contribution to Gandalf's lament

Feels weird not doing a Tuesday Poem on the Eve of The Hobbit premiere

I guess because it's hard to focus on other work when so many exciting things happening in Wellington tomorrow and as I suspect I'm going to spend a lot of time peering at red carpet in the distance I feel the following is perhaps this is appropriate for the hobbit even if it is totally the wrong book ;) - maybe I'll break into Bilbo's spider taunt later!!!!

But for now

Samwise's contribution to Frodo's lament for Gandalf (JRR Tolkien)

"The finest rockets ever seen
they burst in stars of blue and green
or after thunder golden showers 
came falling like a rain of flowers."

For it does feel like we're about to be treated to a rather fun local event where everyone is turning up to see the fireworks.  (and the stars)
Of  perhaps I should have started with the beginning - it seems appropriate tonight with the weather and all the excitement -

"When evening in the Shire was grey
his footsteps on the hill were heard..."

after all, surely one would be wise to listen out for those footsteps?

A.J.

A.J. Ponder's books are available through Rona Gallery, Amazon, Paper Plus and good Wellington bookstores.

The Magic of Wellington & The Middle of Middle Earth

Just when the magic of Wellington is becoming a bit of an obsession - what should happen but Wellington transmogrifies into the Middle of Middle Earth - must have been because two advance copies of "Wizard's Guide to Wellington" turned up in the post.

ps Ike and the Wizard's Guide to Wellington can be found here http://wizardsguide.wordpress.com/ with WAY MORE photographs of Wellington in the middle of Hobbit fever (including Red Carpet)
 
A.J.
A.J. Ponder's books are available through Rona Gallery, Amazon, Paper Plus and good Wellington bookstores.

This and that - busy, busy

Yes, I know I've abandoned my Tuesday Poem posts for a while
but that doesn't mean I have no internet presence at all

Managed for the first time in forever flick off a quick book review - definitely not a book for everyone but a dark and gripping read nonetheless and recommended by one of the book reps who was desperate to talk about it with someone.   Prince of Thorns by Mark Lawrence

And of course Ike has been very busy warning people about anything he feels might be the slightest bit dangerous.  Time Portal and the Tawa Pool

Anyway am having heaps of fun and running at about 12,000 words for Nanowrimo - so while I don't think I'm anywhere near "winning" (and kudos by the way to the souls that are) I am making reasonable progress, so very excited.

cheers and good luck in all your upcoming endeavours

A.J.
 
A.J. Ponder's books are available through Rona Gallery, Amazon, Paper Plus and good Wellington bookstores.

Sabbatical - there's a story running rampant through my brain

The Sign Off

There's a story running rampant through my brain
and I'd hate to tell it
once again
to fly off to the never
never land
where never stories lurk
because once it's lost -
so it always will remain.

Yup - I'm taking a break - you can partly blame this little guy - Ike.
He's been a rather distracting little Imp - always wanting to know what's happening around Wellington and wanting to be aired out!

Not only that but he's taken residence up at http://wizardsguide.wordpress.com

But mostly there's a story I've been meaning to write and I'm hoping to force it into the world care of NaNoWri Mo (National Novel writing Month)
Ugly yes - but aren't all newborns - except our own?


So thanks everybody for reading and I'll be back properly 1st of Jan - but might pop back and forth a little for the sheer heck of it, "on the spot" poems like this one and other important updates :)


cheers,

A.J. Ponder

A.J.
 
A.J. Ponder's books are available through Rona Gallery, Amazon, Paper Plus and good Wellington bookstores.

Rational Disbelief

Rational Disbelief

The rational world

is divided into quarks

subatomic probabilities

particles riding on

waves of matter

throwing logic in its wake

like so much

flotsam and jetsam

The rational world

is full of irrational numbers

and nonsensical ideas of

a universal elegance

in a universe

too big to view

with anything less

than infinite scope

and all the while

the space between two points of nothing

and everything in between

is as screwed up

contrarian

counter-intuitive

and diabolically mysterious

as

tiny bosons spinning

away

and polarising all

your favourite assumptions.

A J Ponder 

This poem came from some kind of discussion where someone mentioned they "believed in science" and I thought it was an odd thing to say.  All I could think was - science isn't about belief - because where science falls over is in faulty assumptions, methodologies and dogma. It totally fails when people say something is true and we believe them because of their stature.  So I felt obliged to point the poor unsuspecting believer to the bizarrely compelling and almost unbelievable Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman, where he slams the hollow appearance of learning (rote learning) in favour of asking questions and discovering the answers for yourself. So please - whatever you do - don't believe in science and definitely when it comes to science don't believe a word I say - because I say  "if you believe in science you're doing it wrong."

And lastly-

Fun week, very busy - does it ever stop - or as you get older does life run away faster than a dish with a spoon fixation?  I suppose it must - but before the dog gets carried away or the cow jumps over the moon how about sailing through this far less daunting portal to make your way to the lovely poets in the Tuesday Poem blog. 

A.J.

A.J. Ponder's books are available through Rona Gallery, Amazon, Paper Plus and good Wellington bookstores.

The Final Happily Never After (Part 3)

 If you're not sure what this - or how how intrepid heroes could have got this far - then check out the first edition of Happily Never After, and Happily Never After part 2 or we could kick start everything with the short version - but where's the fun in that? 
   
The short version.   The Narrator is having a bad day.  He (or she) is angry the story-book characters are not behaving like they're supposed to.  They don't want to speak in rhyme and they certainly don't want to get married.  So the narrator's decided to conjure up a giant with the help of his magic book and get rid of these annoying characters once and for all...



And so with no further ado
The next section after part two:

NARRATOR turning page: Ahem. 

Since our heroes would not wed,

The giant came and killed them --

JACK: Stop right there.  We don't want to die.

RAPUNZEL: And marry?  Never.

RAPUNZEL runs to NARRATOR and turns the last page of the narrator's book.

RAPUNZEL: Jack and Rapunzel become famous pilots and live happily ever after.

JACK: But--

RAPUNZEL: And they never get married to anyone.

JACK: Yay. Let's go! 

JACK and RAPUNZEL run off stage.

GIANT (sniffing): But I'm still hungry -- and I can still smell the blood of an Englishman.

NARRATOR: How did you know I was English?

NARRATOR runs off stage followed by GIANT.

THE END

A.J. Ponder

And so the end of our epic tale, the boards are bare,  the heroes have gone home for dinner, and thanks to these people for the book cover.  It's perfect.  (After all, I believe the giant is still chasing that narrator!)

Don't forget to always climb beanstalks when the opportunity presents.  Sometimes there may be giants, but more often I think you'll find geese with golden eggs and other such novelties.  So go on, go, and search for your treasures  at this your local beanstalk.  (Otherwise known as The Tuesday Poem Hub.)
Or this beanstalk leading directly to the Portal of Fairytale Poetry. 

If anybody knows some I've forgotten, please message me (note, poems are in alphabetical order)

A.J.

A.J. Ponder's books are available through Rona Gallery, Amazon, Paper Plus and good Wellington bookstores.

Happily Never After (part 2)

If you're not sure what this - or how how intrepid heroes could have got this far - then check out the first edition of Happily Never After - right here.

Otherwise, how about kicking back with the short version: The narrator is disappointed because his story is not quite going as planned - Rapunzel is refusing to be rescued on the grounds she'd rather stay with the witch, and  so sensibly she declines the extremely painful experience of having someone climb up her hair. Jack, the ostensible hero is somewhat relieved...   

And so with no further ado:
Happily NEver After
Part Two

RAPUNZEL: And have him climb up it?  I told you -- I don't want to be rescued.

JACK starts walking away.

NARRATOR: So Jack the oaf went on his way,

no princess would be wed this day.

RAPUNZEL (waves): Thanks for not rescuing me.

JACK: Any time.  Dashing pilots never rescue people unless they really want to be rescued.

RAPUNZEL: A pilot?  I love flying, -- and broomsticks are so cold and uncomfortable.  

RAPUNZEL jumps down off her tower and runs to Jack.

NARRATOR: What?

RAPUNZEL: Let's go.

JACK: Good idea.  Where?

NARRATOR turns page.

NARRATOR: Long our heroes walked and walked

to seek and find the huge beanstalk.

JACK and RAPUNZEL walk offstage.

NARRATOR: Then they climbed up, up, up, up,

until they reached the tip, top, tup.

 JACK and RAPUNZEL walk onstage.

JACK: Gosh that was a terrible rhyme.  I think they're getting worse.

RAPUNZEL: I think you're right.

NARRATOR glares at the two heroes and turns the page.

NARRATOR: Fine.  Here's a giant for you to fight.

GIANT walks onstage.

GIANT: Fee, fi, fo, fum.

I smell the blood of an English-man.

JACK: English?  Do I look English?

RAPUNZEL: Man?  Do I look like a man?

GIANT: Boy on toast, girl on bread,

with just one bite you'll both be dead.

     GIANT chases JACK and RAPUNZEL.

JACK: Oh no!  When the narrator turns the page, whatever he says comes true.

NARRATOR turning page: Ahem. 

Since our heroes would not wed,

The giant came and killed them --

And so...(dramatic music)...will our two intrepid heroes survive?

Or will the narrator manage to kill off his two less than accommodating lead characters?

Hold onto your glass slippers - keep your finger on the magic portal at the Tuesday Poem:(same magic portal, same magic time, same magic place if you don't want to miss awesome poems from New Zealand and all around the world)and hold your breath for next week's final exciting edition of Happily Never After.


Happily Never After part 3 - just a small magical twitch of a finger away....

A.J.

A.J. Ponder's books are available through Rona Gallery, Amazon, Paper Plus and good Wellington bookstores.
 

Happily Never After: A play where the narrator plays with poetry

ok this probably deserves a little introduction - it's a play where the Narrator has got it in his/her head that rhyming is the order of the day...but nobody else quite has the narrators enthusiasm.

Happily Never After
by A. J.  Ponder

CHARACTERS:

• NARRATOR
• JACK
• RAPUNZEL
• GIANT

Scene: The NARRATOR is reading from a large book.  RAPUNZEL is in her tower.  JACK is walking onstage.

NARRATOR: Long ago and once upon a time,

Our hero Jack would speak in rhyme.

JACK: What?  No I don't, I want to be a famous pilot.

NARRATOR turns page.

NARRATOR:  Hmmm.  Jack didn't look where he was going, and fell into a puddle.

JACK falls over.

JACK: Ouch!  What do you think you're doing?

NARRATOR: Not rhyming.

JACK: You rhyme, I'll fight the monsters, ok?

Jack walks to RAPUNZEL's tower.

NARRATOR: Soon our Jack, so brave and bold,

found a tower of burnished gold.

RAPUNZEL (leaning out): That better not be some idiot prince come to rescue me.

JACK: No, definitely not.

NARRATOR: Jack go rescue the fair maid,

an evil witch has her afraid --

RAPUNZEL: That's not true.  Well, she is a witch, but only her cabbage stew is evil.

JACK: Yuk!

RAPUNZEL: Yes it's horrible, but on the up side she is giving me flying lessons.

JACK: Really?  Could I learn?

RAPUNZEL:  No.  Whoever heard of a boy riding a broomstick? Go away.

NARRATOR: Now Rapunzel, maiden fair,

Shouldn't you let down your hair?

RAPUNZEL: And have him climb up it?  I told you -- I don't want to be rescued.



And so (dramatic music) you will have to wait till next week to discover:
Will the fair maiden be rescued?
Will the narrator get the rhyming and romance they desire?
Or will Jack become the famous pilot he always wanted?
Hold onto your glass slippers -keep your finger on the magic portal at the Tuesday Poem:(same magic portal, same magic time, same magic place)

Or go straight to Happily Never After Part 2
 
and remember...
Sometimes its important to let down your hair. And sometimes its best not to let people climb up it - but when they do - I think P S Cottier's Rapunzel (here) has the exact right attitude ;)

A.J.
 
A.J. Ponder's books are available through Rona Gallery, Amazon, Paper Plus and good Wellington bookstores.

The Cold Truth

dead men stare
with open eyes
(O)     (O)
they cannot see
and you
likewise

A.J. Ponder


The cold truth was brought to you by a very young cynic. Grown into an older one.
Again after twenty odd years, thought I'd better actually claim this one - before somebody else does - if they haven't already - can't imagine I'm the only one who thought of it!
Sorry Hells, I do have some cheery poetry, but I'm saving that for the dead of winter :)

And damn - but it's annoying how it keeps loosing the gaps between the eyes. It's a very squinty skull!


Yes, this is a reblog from over two years ago - I can't believe I've been running  "An Affliction" for so long - but there you are. 

So, to business, lots of exciting writing projects are happening right now, I'd better get on with them, but not before wishing you all the best with your endeavours, 

A.J.
 
A.J. Ponder's books are available through Rona Gallery, Amazon, Paper Plus and good Wellington bookstores.

Tuesday Poem: Colour Management

Warning:
the document's embedded colour file does not match
the current RGB working space

There are no words to describe it
binary codes do not do it justice
after all your eyes are only
prisons
for light
and management will always
make the final decision.

Interpreted and
mismatched
and discarded
just as quickly
the cones
have discontinued service
this workspace is now
torn assunder:


 
Alright - quick and dirty -  and yes - my mind has been completely blown away by the latest Photoshop - it wouldn't be so bad - but I really totally and completely cannot get me head around the colour management.  Last minute I was told my old standby the JPG was out - so now...

Help!!!???


And for more wonderful poems at the Tuesday Poem, I believe there is even a poem of pictures by Andrew Bell - so I can't wait to look - I just have to return to the PS hell imagine being able to do so much and not even knowing where to start.




A.J. Ponder's books are available through Rona Gallery, Amazon, Paper Plus and good Wellington bookstores.

He wishes for the Cloths of Heaven by W. B. Yeats

Had I the heavens' embroidered cloths, 
Enwrought with golden and silver light, 
The blue and the dim and the dark cloths 
Of night and light and the half-light, 
I would spread the cloths under your feet: 
But I, being poor, have only my dreams; 
I have spread my dreams under your feet; 
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.


 I found this poem by W.B, Yeats recited by Sir Ken Robinson in a TED speech; "Bring on the learning revolution!" (youtube)

It had some great - and one would thing really quite self-evident titbits of wisdom like -


 "A three year old is not half a six year old."  And while one would think that is self evident, sometimes - not so much.


But most enthralling was the way he wove this poem into the end of his narrative about how schools should - and I think they (very) gradually are - becoming places that are less interested in the factory model and more interested in growing individuals.  The problem is as he points out earlier in the speech -

"It's very hard to know what it is you take for granted - and the reason is...that you take it for granted."

In science it's called questioning your assumptions.  So while his speech was about the learning of children - perhaps it is the learning revolution of adults that most urgently needs to take place in this fast paced modern environment.

Anyway that's more than enough philosophising and speechifying when more poetry awaits with wonders and adventure for all those who dare to travel the 'verse. Travelling the Verse portal is just a click away! ;)

A.J. Ponder's books are available through Rona Gallery, Amazon, Paper Plus and good Wellington bookstores.

Cul-de-Sac

I am walking

I was walking

I will be walking

past the road to nowhere

down the oft turned lane

where the green grass is speckled with daisies

Time to turn the fresh-faced flowers

into chains

 link to more Richard Ponder art

I am picking flowers                                                         

I was picking flowers

I will be picking flowers

in the lost paths

down in the meadow

where the horses are grazing

Keeping the grass

            short enough 
for ghosts


 A.J. Ponder


Alright - that's not exactly the picture I wanted - or at least not the one I had in mind - but I think it works well enough.  Better possibly.  Let me sleep on it and make up my mind.  In the meantime I hope you enjoyed meandering through this temporary field speckled more with pixels than with daisies, so I would caution you not to try picking them out - or in fact using them for chains, not even to make crowns or bracelets, after all some flowers were always meant to be wild.

To connect to more Fairy Tale poetry I've installed a rabbit hole within this field, so if you find yourself, by chance, becoming curiouser and curiouser - please at least know I gave fair warning.   And enjoy :)

 A.J. Ponder's work is also available through Rona Gallery, Amazon, and good Wellington bookstores

Code

01001101010010101010101011100101101010

00101001011110101010001010101010010101

01010101010010100101001010010100010010

11010001000101001000101010100100100101

see, you can tell

there's something going on

decisive

and indecipherable

a growing

world-shattering intelligence

it's all pixels to me. 

A J Ponder 

be afraid, be very very afraid.  You think computers are destroying our concentration spans for no reason...

ok fine.  Not much chat this week - I seem to be so far behind with everything but I have put up a little starter blog for my book on wordpress.  Thought why not try it out - and just a few hours/days later voila... http://wizardsguide.wordpress.com

 A.J. Ponder's work is also available through Rona Gallery, Amazon, and good Wellington bookstores

Tuesday Poem: Not a poem, maybe one day...

The sun was shining in the sky
shining with all its might...


But of course it's hardly the middle of the night - I swear with this shot I feel almost get sun-blinded just looking at it.   Of course if you're disappointed the rest of the Lewis Carroll poem is here but basically why is the picture even here?  The story goes like this - while flicking through some of my shots of Wellington I found this shot of Seatoun beach and remembered the Lewis Carroll poem - and then I remembered I'd tried to do a poem along similar lines but where two rich fellows are going to complain alot about the beach and then buy it and everything on it out from under the noses of everyone else.  It never really quite worked but it was fun - if you don't mind the beginning being wrong - and the complete lack of an ending....

...

The sun shining on the sea

Spied two suits out strolling

As crisp as they could be

With voices biting as the wind

pleats sharp as any knife

They assaulted everybody's dress

Your money and your life

The sand was sharp and sandy

The beach was far from clean

Our moneymen saw seaweed

and complained it was obscene...

And that's it so far.  I hope everyone has had a busy and productive week, and if the poem is lacking, the perhaps stop and enjoy the picture, it's one of my favourites - Seatoun beach looking absolutely gorgeous

 A.J. Ponder's work is also available through Rona Gallery, Amazon, and good Wellington bookstores

Travelling through 70's Mainland NZ

in the middle of the

patchwork flat

peeling in the sun

a cottage tumbled

far from the snowy peaks

hazy in the dusty distance

rats along the rafters

visitors at the door

far from the wind

the water

the bustle of the big

city across

and away

with fangled ideas

calf, dark curled lashes, blinking

and down the road

the main road

not a café

just a road stop

where you could have everything

you liked

even vegetarian

so long as

you didn't mind a little bit of bacon

rats, you can have your dust

calf, stay if you wish to be et

we're headed for the mountains -

maybe they can tell me -
why we left the sea

A J Ponder

This is a poem I've been working on really does in some weird way seem to capture one of our many trips through the South Island when I was quite young.  It would have been either late seventies of very early eighties but accuracy at this point is not going to be easy, nor particularly relevant, and although my memory of most of our other trips is almost non-existent this one stood out because of  an unscheduled stop at a place where the guy really did have rats along the rafters.  He opined that they (the rats) were quite entertaining and the walkways should be a more prominent feature of the house design.   And not so very far away some kind of diner, the only eating establishment for miles around - where Mum asked if they had anything vegetarian and the lady pointed to some kind of cheese muffin thing - with bacon.  A small amount of discussion, utter horror on both sides.  (Mum grew up with pigs on a farm, she might be a little lax about her vegetarianism when going out - but not when it comes to pigs the images of them being slaughtered still haunt her.)  Unstated was that there wasn't a heck of a lot of choice, it was that or the road... I believe we found something to eat - in the car. 


More of Richard Ponder's work can be found here
It's not of the hut in question as the background is clearly not the middle of the plains with miles and miles of flat land.  Gosh even thinking about all that flat land just seems wrong as I'm so used to being nestled in the hills of Wellington.  


A.J. Ponder  

 A.J. Ponder's work is also available through Rona Gallery, Amazon, and good Wellington bookstores

Winter Stores by Charlotte Bronte (as Currer Ellis 1846))

(or listen at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edQh_CMr9zQ - the music's nice, but to me the voice seems a little too softly, softly)

We take from life one little share,
And say that this shall be
A space, redeemed from toil and care,
From tears and sadness free.

And, haply, Death unstrings his bow,
And Sorrow stands apart,
And, for a little while, we know
The sunshine of the heart.

Existence seems a summer eve,
Warm, soft, and full of peace,
Our free, unfettered feelings give
The soul its full release.

A moment, then, it takes the power
To call up thoughts that throw
Around that charmed and hallowed hour,
This life’s divinest glow.

But Time, though viewlessly it flies,
And slowly, will not stay;
Alike, through clear and clouded skies,
It cleaves its silent way.

Alike the bitter cup of grief,
Alike the draught of bliss,
Its progress leaves but moment brief
For baffled lips to kiss

The sparkling draught is dried away,
The hour of rest is gone,
And urgent voices, round us, say,
“'Ho, lingerer, hasten on!”

And has the soul, then, only gained,
From this brief time of ease,
A moment’s rest, when overstrained,
One hurried glimpse of peace?

No; while the sun shone kindly o’er us,
And flowers bloomed round our feet,—
While many a bud of joy before us
Unclosed its petals sweet,—

An unseen work within was plying;
Like honey-seeking bee,
From flower to flower, unwearied, flying,
Laboured one faculty,—

Thoughtful for Winter’s future sorrow,
Its gloom and scarcity;
Prescient to-day, of want to-morrow,
Toiled quiet Memory.

’Tis she that from each transient pleasure
Extracts a lasting good;
’Tis she that finds, in summer, treasure
To serve for winter’s food.

And when Youth’s summer day is vanished,
And Age brings Winter’s stress,
Her stores, with hoarded sweets replenished,
Life’s evening hours will bless.

It seems winter is passing - so fast - it's going by like a rocket - so that maybe the traditional Stark cry of "winter is coming" (in the book, Game of Thrones) is not a call to winter so much as a call to the winter of life - No wonder George R R Martin is so loathe to write in a hurry - he's busy squirrelling away the memories of autumn.

My thoughts are with everyone near Mt Tongariro, I'm hoping that the right decisions will be made and everyone will be kept safe http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/7426862/First-Tongariro-eruption-in-over-100-years 

A.J. Ponder  

 A.J. Ponder's work is also available through Rona Gallery, Amazon, and good Wellington bookstores

Winter Canvas

Grey is the rain that falls

onto the grass

struggling

through cracked concrete

Grey are the buildings

the glass

and the street

the people clutching umbrellas

Grey coats the world -

cold as rock -

except the rain-slick green at my feet

and the sky patched blue

above your house

A J Ponder  

Another startlingly busy week - it seems like every moment is flying before the next - so best wishes to everyone for the week - and why not check in on the final posts for Poetry month at an Aotearoa Affair?

 A.J. Ponder's work is also available through Rona Gallery, Amazon, and good Wellington bookstores

The Crocodile by Lewis Carroll

How doth the little crocodile
Improve his shining tail,
And pour the waters of the Nile
On every golden scale!

How cheerfully he seems to grin!
How neatly spread his claws,
And welcomes little fishes in
With gently smiling jaws!


                                                                                       
Danger is beautiful, it will entice you in with smiles and perfect teeth.  Has there ever been a better metaphor wrapped up in more perfect verse?  Probably, but I'll take some convincing...

A.J. Ponder

PS I was on "An Aotearoa Affair" this week with "Remember Remember the Babes in the Wood" so
why not enjoy the dangerously and beautiful world hiding behind the Aotearoa poetry blog.  :) 

Thank you to fellow poet Michelle Elvy for setting this up in the count down to National Poetry day.  I must say there are some other great poems to check out while you're there including a gorgeous selection from Ora Nui 2012 and I must say I particularly enjoyed Helen Lowe's The Wayfarer:  Odysseus at Dodoma.  Of course I did.  As Siobhan Harvey commented, it is - "A poem which seems distinctly Helen and her wider work – mythical, beautifully crafted, layered, skillfully, with evocative language."   So yes - it seems there's almost twice the fun this week...so s while I'm smiling - watch out for the teeth! ;)

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