yet

A windy afternoon, a blues CD, a sift through my notes.

And I found this.

There’s a writing exercise that I love by the poet Robert Graves. You write continuously, for ten minutes, a catalogue of what you have and haven’t done. Write all you can think of, don’t worry about chronology or corrections. It’s startling what comes out of your pen, what your mind presents you with while you’re not really looking.

I based my klokken piece on this, which has been accepted for publication in the US, and today I found the notes that helped me write it. I’m looking at what I wrote two years ago, things I hadn’t yet done, and I’m smiling at the road I’ve travelled even in that brief time, about the items I can now strike off that list.

And I’m so, so curious about the ones still to come, my pen hovering, ready to flow my ink onto the page and strike across one more of life’s rich experiences.

I’m not afraid anymore.

2005

I have

Prayed in a thousand year old church
Been conversant in five languages
Eaten a rat
Worked in a massage parlour
Slept on a park bench on the eve of my 18th birthday
Escaped from a mental hospital
Been rewarded for language excellence by the Swiss Consulate
Trained as a dominatrix
Legally changed my name
Escaped a gunman on a murderous rampage by seconds
Travelled to 17 countries
Wept at the beauty of Mahalia Jackson’s voice
Had 13 snakes tattooed onto my flesh

I have not

Shaved my head
Had my heart broken
Bought a Beatles CD
Gone parachuting
Stripped on stage
Driven over the speed limit
Cooked a steak
Seen any ‘Mad Max’ films
Broken a bone
Worn stilettos
Had short hair
Taught myself Esperanto
Worn pink as an adult
Failed an exam
Lived in Russia
Had a relationship with a woman
Studied Icelandic

So what’s on your lists?

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writing, russia, tattoos, test, words, poet, snakes, language, list, stilettos, icelandic, bellmusker and esperanto