Mabh Savage
Words and the world passing by; how it sings to me; how I clamour back.
NaPoWriMo Day 8: A Naming
Image copyright Mabh Savage 2023. Image ID: Green grass and bright blue sky with a few small white clouds seen through the mesh window of a tent.
We stood before the gods and named him
Parents, sponsors, family, friends, and tribe
They held him gently and firmly
Safe and loved
Rounding the circle
With bread and mead
His brother spoke loud and sweet
Melting our hearts
While we played our parts
Committing ourselves to this
Still tiny life.
A naming before the quarters
A naming before the elements
A naming before the stones, grass, and sky.
NaPoWriMo Day 7: Finding Tribe
Image copyright Mabh Savage 2023. Image ID: Trees silhouetted against a starry night sky.
We come together in the great field
Some linked by blood
Many not
But all in joy
And canvas
And love of the fire
We laugh and cry and hold each other tight
Some close calls this past winter
Yet we’re all still here
I watch the moon rise
Listen to snores
Shuffles
Whispers and giggles
I nod to Lokabrenna
Torch of Skytreader
Transformational one who reminds us
Of joy, hold onto joy…
Grateful for the home
We always have.
NaPoWriMo Day 6: Pizza
Image copyright Mabh Savage 2023. Image ID: A little girl putting olives on a pizza seen from above.
We make pizza together
Her intensity
Practically melting the cheese
Before the oven is even on
I grate, it’s great
Her words not mine
A punner like her mother
Funny already, at only five
She wants olives
What five-year-old asks for olives?
This one…
Plus an egg
To make eyes and a smile…
She already did.
NaPoWriMo Day 5: Salsa
Image copyright Mabh Savage 2022. Image ID: Two white ramekins on a wooden chopping board, the left one has peach coloured sauce in and the right one has green sauce and a metal spoon in.
Tapping around the kitchen
Toe tapping heel tapping good
Flavour pouring
From fingers cold yet nimble
April frosts still hanging on
Cailleach peering through the window
But get this tapping
Rhythm in the soul
Pots and pans and
Slots for spices, herbs, mix it up
Throw those potatoes
Make that sauce
La Salsa
Salsa verde
Salsa rojo
Beating to the eating
Straight from heart to plate.
NaPoWriMo Day 4: Listing
Image from Openverse. Image ID: An open, spiral-bound notebook on a wooden surface.
Listing to the side
Writing
Checking
Apping
Wording
Nouns to verbs
Tick box
Doom box
Lockbox
Lock it up
Have you tried a notebook?
Have you tried keeping lists?
Have you tried a planner?
The door of my doom room
Creaks and burst
Empty planners spilling
Flooding out into the house
And my ship lists sideways.
NaPoWriMo Day 3: Moon Shock
Image copyright Mabh Savage 2023. Image ID: Clouds surrounding the moon, lit up from behind, over a street of residential houses.
Walking along the front
We chatter like magpies
Black and white in the evening light
Caught between sea spray and coal dust
Then I look up
Moon shock
Cloud-framed portal
Unreal and beyond strange
Above the mundane street
The houses fall away
The shore a distant dream
As liminality is no longer
Land, sea, and sky
But moon, clouds, and why.
NaPoWriMo Day 2: Chicken
Playing catch-up and posting my poems late!
Image copyright Mabh Savage 2023. Image ID: A man in a blue coat, jeans, and grey hat facing away from the camera watching the ocean over a white railing.
He plays chicken with the ocean
Calmly strolling along the promenade
While waves beat a samba
Up the sea wall.
He looks back
And disappears behind a wall of white
Foamy assassin,
Hiding my surely drenched spouse
The surging arm of the ocean slaps down
Dragging its salty palm back to the beach
He grins back at me
Ground sodden
Him lightly sprayed
As if two fists of the sea
Had ground into the concrete
On either side of him
A wall punched in frustration
With no intent to harm
You lucky bastard
I mouth, and grin back
As the sea stretches deep
And lunges again.
NaPoWriMo Day One: Hornsea Mist
The mist over the sea comes in hard
White fuzz, silencing the horizon
While the shoreline cracks and hammers
Wave after wave of angry
Turning tide.
The town gathers anyway
Braving the blustery spittle
High-vis high octane madness:
Carts and coats and concerts
Singing gutsy enough
To drown out the gravel tipped teeth
Of the sea.
Still the mist encroaches
Like a bubble
Closing in
Winter’s last hurrah
But we sing in Spring
Melodious, proud: warm.
Heit – Resolution
I began learning Icelandic in 2022 and today I learned that the word for resolution is “heit”, which I thought was “hot” so maybe one of my resolutions should be to step up my language practice…
Resolutions. Things we promise to ourselves. Commitments. Intentions. As someone with ADHD and a tendency towards pathological demand avoidance, resolutions can be anathema, as the moment I feel I “have” to do something, I kind of shut down and will do literally anything else instead.
Languages, for example. I learn several at a time, because when I can’t do Spanish, I can do Greek or Icelandic instead. I procrastinate over one by working on another. For some reason, this appeases the stubborn part of my brain that is all about anti-compliance.
So, how do I set New Year’s Resolutions? Instead of picking out a couple of things I want to do, I make a sort of bucket list of things I’d like to achieve. This makes it more achievable – even though technically, it’s more work.
In 2023, my list includes:
Make more music
Publish some poetry
Finish writing at least 2 books
Stay on top of my admin
Be kinder to myself and others
Grow something
Right now, these are fairly nebulous goals (apart from the book finishing – that’s fairly cut and dried!). I like it like that. The vaguer they are, the more accomplished I’ll feel when I can record that I’ve completed one of them to a standard I’m happy with. I’m also more likely to work towards them – which means I’ll achieve something, even if it’s not as much as I initially hoped I would.
I want more magic and music in 2023. I’ve started by releasing three songs from my old band, Mexican Deathcap. These are available right now on Spotify. Look out for at least 5 more releases in 2023, including some folk tracks and a couple of originals.
Magically, I want to create a better space for practice, as currently I grab whatever space is free in between everyone else’s commitments. This means I let things slide when what I want is a more consistent, meaningful practice. I’m going to create an outdoor area for when the weather is suitable, and figure something out for when it’s too wet/cold/windy!
Finally, I need to focus on keeping myself healthier: more sleep, better eating, more gentle exercise. There don’t need to be massive changes, just consistent care. I pledged to a Goddess that I would do this, and need to follow through for Her and for myself.
And, of course, I’ll be learning more Icelandic ahead of one of my lads travelling there later this year!
What’s in store for you in 2023?
Lessons from NaNoWriMo
I rather ambitiously decided to participate in NaNoWriMo this year. I’ve never done it before. It’s now the end of November and I am nowhere near the 50,000 word target. I guess I’m disappointed, but I definitely have learned a few things. Here goes:
- I cannot take on another book to write while I am in the process of finishing two books on birds and parenting, working as a full-time writer (for goodness’ sake), being a parent, and struggling with health issues – that’s the ADHD talking.
- I can, however, write a decent amount in a month regardless of these challenges. I wrote over 16,000 words of a new novel aimed at kids/young adults, I know exactly where it’s going to go, and have the whole thing plotted out. That’s definitely a win.
- I love the novelty of new writing apps – again, that’s an ADHD thing. I’m currently using a free trial of First Draft Pro and loving it. I’m going to have another go with Scrivener soon, too.
- Making buddies and joining groups is only useful if you actually interact with the people in them. Or, you know, even look at the posts or anything.
- I’m better at dialogue than I thought.
- Fiction is hard – unlike reality, it has to make sense. (Paraphrasing Tom Clancy there!)
- But it’s fun.
- Plan for problems – a sudden virus knocked the whole household out, I had two kids at home alternating weeks, then got sick myself. Over half the month basically unable to write.
- A little every day is more achievable for me than great, long stints. This is the exact opposite of how I write non-fiction, which is in a hyper-focused, teeth-gritted, grim faced, time-exempt bubble of don’t talk to me.
- I will complete this novel. I’m not sure yet whether I’ll submit it for traditional publishing or self publish, but it will exist in a complete format at some point!
That’s a win as far as I’m concerned. Okay, not technically a NaNoWriMo win, but I’m taking it!
Mabh Savage 