What I Live For

To celebrate the publication of her books under her new name, Satya Robyn is curating an online event today in which bloggers share “What I Live For”.

There are lots of things that I could describe in this way – family, friends, books – but given the date my choice was easy. It’s three months exactly until our wedding, so I thought I would post a poem about our upcoming marriage.

 

 

Bride
after Marcel Duchamp and Octavio Paz

Outside the station, you juggle gravity,
so when we step onto the platform
it opens out to rails made of matches
soaked in fresh green paint.

The train sets off as though shot
from a cannon. I hear its cogs and springs,
the clockwork straining to keep up
with our direction of travel; it’s been wound
beyond its litany’s pace and theme.

The centrifugal force of our meeting
rips my rain-mask from me. You
give me a glass skin
in which I cocoon myself
like a caterpillar noctuelle.

Your glass is the only thing strong enough
to withstand my tongue of solid flame.

Within my new epidermis, I slow life;
grow into a dusk-dusty mariée.

—–

Image: Us. Photo by my Mum. We were all laughing so hard about something or other that she couldn’t quite focus.

‘Bride’ was first published in The Aesthetica Creative Writing Annual 2012.

Previous blogsplashes for Satya’s books are filed under her former name, Fiona Robyn.

Thaw Blogsplash

Ruth’s diary is the new novel by Fiona Robyn, called Thaw. She has decided to blog the novel in its entirety over the next few months, so you can read it for free.

Ruth’s first entry is below, and you can continue reading tomorrow here.

Blogsplash

I’m really interested in how poets and other writers are using Web 2.0 tools for their work. So I’m excited to see how Fiona Robyn‘s latest blog event works out.

Fiona has innovated the use of blogs to promote and stimulate interest in her novels. Last time, for The Blue Handbag, she created 100 Readers, in which she presents online interviews with readers of the book.

Now, for her forthcoming book, Thaw, she is planning a blogsplash. Read on to find out how you can get involved. Thanks to Sarah Salway, whose twitterfeed alerted me to this event.

Fiona Robyn is going to blog her next novel, Thaw, starting on the 1st of March. The novel follows 32 year old Ruth’s diary over three months as she decides whether or not to carry on living.

To help spread the word she’s organising a Blogsplash, where blogs will publish the first page of Ruth’s diary simultaneously (and a link to the blog).

She’s aiming to get 1000 blogs involved so if you’d be interested in joining in, email her at fiona@fionarobyn.com or find out more information at
http://www.fionarobyn.com/thawblogsplash.htm.