Poems from the Clothes Line

My name is Michelle - and welcome to Poems from the Clothes Line. I think I'll end up changing that title - when I can think of another.

I'm updating things at the moment - so things will change - but with children floating around the house it can take an awful long time to get anything done. So things may stay static for quite some time. Then again, maybe I just don't have anything to add.

Interesting name, but you get what you're given to work with. Primarily, this site is a place for me to publish my christian/religious-content poetry. I may even post some secular stuff.

Some people tell me God will bless me if I publish my poetry. I really don't care about the publishing aspect, I'll certainly not make money from it because basically, poetry doestn't sell. And, anyone who is any type of writer knows how hard it is to 'get published'. For those who write poetry, it's even harder. Who reads it? Who publishes it? So - this was the way to go. It's getting the words and the Word out there for people to find it and read it. And although it may sound presumptuous, you never know, it might change someone's life. If not, it may just help you to feel what I feel sometimes.

There is also the issue that - no matter how much I write, if I don't like it, or don't think it's worth 'publishing', then it wouldn't get published. Which would make for a very, very short book.

God does odd things at odd times. He gives me poems, thoughts, ideas at the worst times. Who takes a notepad and pen to the clothesline with them? Who stops in peak hour traffic, or in the dark on a windy road to write down what God tells them? It's my job to try and remember what He says. Sometimes, I'm successful. Sometimes I'm not. But out of the words that I'm given, sometimes comes a poem that may not rhyme, may not have nice rythm, but tells what it's meant to tell. His latest 'hobby' is not letting me go to sleep until what He says get's written down, or even worse - waking me up at all hours for me to write things down. I treasure my sleep, and with a new baby, sleep is hard to come by. BUt you know, what's worse is, after several days of Him waking me up or delaying my sleep, He then leaves me alone to rest, pontificate, whatever. And then I can't sleep because I miss our chat's, or I'm sure He's just going to wake me anyway. I have severe sleeping difficulties. Could be regarded as a disorder but - what the heck. If God wants to chat, who am I to tell Him to go away?

For the record, I am literate, not literary. Ask my mother. She likes to 'edit' my stuff - make it read better. I don't like that. I don't like it at all. It's not that I'm not open to criticism, it's just that if you put the a comma in the wrong place or a full stop - it can alienate a line from a verse, or completely change it's meaning (IMHO). I'm not arty-farty. I don't read other poetry much, I'm too concerned about accidentally plaigarising. If you don't like it, you don't like it. That's not a problem. What is a problem is expectations. Some people think that to be a writer you need to be not only widely read, but someone with an almost over active social conscience, or - oh - I don't know how to describe it - use lots of fancy schmancy words, make sure there's a lot of contrasting/conflicting imagery to show my tortured soul or such things as that. If I'm writing, what I write is mostly either what I feel, or what God puts in my head. If I think I've done a good job on something, it means that as I've written it, I've been able to see the pictures the words I've used has painted, and feel the emotions that were meant to be conveyed. I'm not the sort to use imagery as a tool so you can see deeper into my psyche or hide subtle meanings in subtle words etc, that, when 'interpreted' give a huge impact. The words are what they are and why they are. If I torture the English language to get my meaning across, and by that I mean 'create' a word or use a word slightly out of context, it's to get the feeling across and the message across, not to show four or five different levels to a piece of work.

I'm a mum to three little boys who are too fabulous for words, Elijah and Micah and Malachi. So if there are typo's here - blame them, because it's very hard to type when you have another pair or two of hands trying to 'help'. It's also why there will bevery little updating at times....oh how they adore to pester mummy while she's on the computer.

Another 'hobby' I have is scrapbooking, so I will put some of my efforts up here and links to favourite sites -both scrapbooking and not. Eventually I will PAY PAY PAY for a site to show stuff off - but for the moment while my time is limited - I'll stick with what I have. I'm wanting to get into some of the 3D stuff to try and create things to use other than my own photographs - so you'll see a link over there >>>>> and down at the bottom of the page to DAZ3D which is where I've started. I'll save some money up and buy thingies to help me along. Might take me another century (LOL) with these children keeping me busy - but I'll get there.

I hope you enjoy what you read. I intend to put some links to favourite sites on later...one in particular belonging to a fabulous person called Laurel. It's all a matter of finding the time.

Bye