Southern Sojourn

Been working down south recently, with lots of adventures to report (which is of course why I haven't reported on them, duh). Maybe some of them will prove poem-worthy and eventually appear on these pages. But in an attempt to show that I haven't been a total slacker on the writing front, here's the link to my latest Lumiere article, Sea Cruise. A little conceit of mine over the summer - I am Lumiere's roving 'Southern Correspondent'. Though I'm not sure how "Southern" the upcoming Palmerston North segment of my travels will seem to people who are not Aucklanders....

Creative types (like poets) have more sex

Seeing as this comment attracted so much interest when I mentioned it at a recent Poetry Live, here's the link so that all may benefit from this valuable information. The news article doesn't mention how exactly this study was carried out (one has visions of earnest scientists shadowing poets in shady bars), but I might try to track down the original article.

Also disturbing is that the researchers are careful to state that they don't know why this is. Is it just that creative types are hornier, have looser standards, or are generally more morally corrupt? Or is it what we all prefer to believe, that creativity makes us sexier? And what about weird sciency-creative hybrids like me - currently my "score" rate is falling on the non-creative side of things, so maybe the nerdy side of me cancels out the poetic sexiness... something I've long suspected, damn...

It's Warm Down South

Been working down in Invercargill this week, and one of my off-duty pleasures was meeting up with the local writers and poets down here. The cold and mostly southern climate breeds famously tough people, and there was much to appreciate about the tenacity of being a writer in the South. (There are, of course, many famous literary names associated in some way with Invercargill.) It was such a pleasure to find like-minded people to swap poetry with, yarn about the business of writing and later, share a beer and dessert at the local watering-hole!