I’m pleased to report that I’ve written the first three poems for the Gawain poem that will go with Bloom & Martyr. Getting the ball rolling is the hardest part for me. Already I know I want to do some rewriting—the poems are from the point of view of the Green Knight and I think he’s coming off too dark and grim right now compared to the teasing in the original, but that’s ok. That I’ve written anything for it means it’s real and can be worked on rather than an apparition in my mind that I have to worry about not coming out right. It is also not in alliterative verse and I’m pleased with that too. My rationale is that that’s the style of the regular humans not the knight but to be perfectly honest I just don’t want to write in that style as I don’t think it’d read as very fresh or contemporary so—no heavy handed alliteration. I’d share some but the whole point is that the poems not be previously published so… it’ll have to remain a mystery!
I think weaving a bunch last night helped get me going—doing a creative but non-writing thing helps me loosen up. Also the snow—another big snowstorm in Calgary with the green and many fall coloured bows bowing with the heavy snow, big snow globe flakes swirling around, all helpful for writing about the Green Knight. I also got a stack of books—either transcriptions of, translations of, or books on Gawain. I haven’t read a word of them except for flipping through them at the library, but I feel like having them nearby is helping somehow. Medieval osmosis. I know the info is close at hand if I need it.
