Today is his 150th birthday – as I am a big Sherlock Holmes-fan (and working for “The British Shop”) I will treat myself with reading one or two short stories tonight. I am just not sure which one to pick, there are so many!

1. My lover, darling, best friend (all in one) -  to chat with him through the night and to cuddle with him in the morning.
2. The song “Wire to wire” by Razor Light (yup, after all these weeks I still turn the volume up on my radio!)
3. Writing poems, even though I feel rather leached out after the Poem a Day challenge. And of course writing in general…
4. My guinea pigs as they gave me a reason to open my heart again in my darkest times and for making my laugh on a daily basis! Guys, you are hilarious!
5. “Isolde”, my harp, who (!) sometimes can be a bitch but most of the times lets me play wonderful music.
6. Osteopathy: a weird but wonderful medical treatment and after 2 sessions I already feel soooo much better! Ever had your liver pushed around??
7. The new Star Trek movie! I always loved Spock in the classic series when I was a kid but Zachary Quinto blew me away. I was skeptical as I thought I would keep seeing him as Sylar from Heroes (where he was awesome, too!) but I completely forgot about that character. He really does look like Spock. I have to watch it in English to hear his real voice…
8. While I am at it: re-watching the classic series. Just got myself the first half of season one and can’t stop watching it. I am in total regression, cuddled in a nice blanket – but no, I am not sucking my thumb!
9. Reading books I normally wouldn’t read. I am in the middle of “Heart of the Night” by Barbara Delinsky – pure romance, but well written (more thoughts about that later). The next book I will read is “Three Men in a Boat” by Jerome K. Jerome – another book not typical for me but it sounded fun and I really want to broaden my literary horizon.
10. The internet – so much information on my hands, I could browse for days!

Words
just underneath the surface
but not clear enough
to get hold of them
to understand

the more I try
to recognise them
the more blurry
they become

so I sit down
at the bank
and wait
for the words
to rise

© Julia Nickel

That‘s how it looked like when I finished the Poem a Day Challenge 2009 - with a netbook in front of my tent at the medieval market…

Finishing the Poem a Day challenge 2009

And here I am completely distressed by writing the sestina….

Writing the Sestina

I published my poem about an object at the Poem a Day Challenge. Some actually asked what it is all about! To give you a clue, this is the shop where I got it: http://www.babeland.com/! And yes, the story is actually true…

And here is the poem:

The last present

you made this last present
without even knowing
from the money
you gave me
for the journey back home

I got it in a side street
in Manhattan
pink and glittery
buzzing and twirling
it’s a delight

I tried it the same night
in my lonely hotel room
it is a replacement for you by any means
just the conversation
is unsatisfying

Caused by D. - inspired by T.

Oh boy, oh boy… Yesterday I was wondering if this challenge does change my style of writing - now I have the answer. For todays challenge “Routine” I wrote a poem about a Crime Scene Cleaner!! I had watched a documentary about this I-don’t-want-this-work-for-anything-in-the-world-job several weeks ago on TV and always thought I have to do something with this. And now I did - the most distgusting, more than gross poem I have ever written! I am not even sure if I am proud of it, but at least I have broadened my writing…

Is it just me or this the way such a challenge works? I can definitely feel a change in my writing after this first week. I put more thoughts into the poems and start constructing them. Before that I merely wrote them down as they came up in my head. I don’t know yet if that change is a good thing, and I neither can assess if my poems are becoming better now. But I have fun and will get on with the challenge. I am really keen on experience where it will take me! Maybe I should participate in the novel challenge in November, hmmmm.

I found
the way back
the pond
is still there
deserted

empty trees
no flowers
but nonetheless
my pond

have to take care
of it
and I am sure
soon it will be
beautiful again
here

© Julia Nickel

As Julia is currently away on a role playing convention we took over and wrote the daily poem for her – of course in guinea pig-ish! Read it at the Poem a day-challenge…

Greetings,
Holmes & Watson

I did it, I did it! Of course, its far from being perfect, but I had to get “moon dance” out of my head…

Moon dance in the night
every night the same route -
on a changed night