“Can I read you my terrible poem?” asked more than one poet in the class by Kate Heartfield and Amanda Earl.
Of course the answer was yes. We listened to poems about snow and pirates and fields of grain. I especially enjoyed Melanie Marttila, Wake Lloire, and Adrienne Stevenson’s work, but I’m more attuned to them because they’re my friends and they’re good people.
There was not one terrible poem.
NOT ONE.
Why have we been brainwashed to apologize for our creativity?
When do we transition from kids celebrating every messy fingerprint painting to adults apologizing for writing*/drawing/buying too many books?
*Autocorrect suggests writhing. Writhing is also good.
Fight the power!
Do your thing!
I bet you’re not hurting anyone, and you might help yourself and whoever craves your thoughts and dreams and the lumpy clay you’re shaping into something new and different.
And if it’s terrible, enjoy it. I made my husband an ugly cake for his birthday. Not on purpose, but the 100% unsweetened chocolate made for lumpy frosting. 150 of my Facebook friends found it hilarious.
Now for the dumplings. Yesterday, my sister-in-law, Pam, donated dumpling lessons for the Sugar and Vice Kickstarter.
We talked about dumplings for the lunar new year. I was excited. Don’t forget to eat dumplings as we flip over to February 10th.
I will offer paid subscribers Pam‘s list of suggested dumpling ingredients at the end.
But first, if this has whetted your appetite, don’t forget that gluttony is the theme of Sugar and Vice. That’s right, Hope and Ryan and Tucker’s adventures continue at the Dragon Eats festival on the Lachine Canal. Get your copy with the doughnut cover on Feb 1st!
Hope’s deadly dance with gluttony also appears in ThrillRide Magazine’s Sister-in-Arms issue.
And who are these beautiful people? Why, most of the cast of Terminally Ill, the play based on the third Hope Sze mystery. Elvis the Escape King (played by Corinne Viau, in the beret) chains and nails himself in a coffin in the St. Lawrence River, and only Hope Sze (Stefanie Hitgano, in the pink cardigan) can save him, with the help of Tori (me), Tucker (Jon Dickey, black hat), and Ryan (Song Wang, red shirt, back right).
Micah Jondel DeShazer is our director (pink hat and shirt) and Tamara Laplante is our stage manager (red shirt, book open). Kameron is played by Malia Rogers, not shown.
So that’s it. My vote: get creative, go see plays, read, and eat dumplings for the Year of the Dragon. Stay warm, and talk soon!
Melissa