Eight weeks of lockdown now here in Scotland. I've avoided working on poems over the last two to three weeks. I had fallen into overthinking mode and badly needed to get out and stay out of my head for a while in order to cope with and make it through this time. So I've cooked (and eaten!) a lot, watched tv a lot, and generally otherwise stuck to the practical - walking, knitting, homework and general activities with the kids etc. And it's paid off. I feel much more myself, have a healthier perspective on things and have let go of what I cannot change.

However, poetry never entirely escapes my life! I've been enjoying reading a biography of Robert Lowell by Ian Hamilton. It's been a fascinating, at times hilarious, read! It's good to get a background to the poems and the biography quotes large chunks of Lowell's letters so I'll probably re-read his poems soon and when I do have more of a sense of his 'voice' and the character behind the poems. I've also been reading a book on the Black Mountain poets. Olson, Creeley and Duncan have never been high in my awareness and I've never really been drawn to the later Language poets so it was good to be reminded of the poetics behind it all.

I'm very excited to have two flower poems coming out in next month's issue of Poetry Magazine. It's always an utter surprise and more than a tiny bit miraculous to me to have poems accepted for this amazing magazine (for the fourth time!!!) . And my flower poems are generally my favourite to write, there really is no where else in the world I would rather have them 'homed'!

So I feel ready to go back to working on poems and have notes for a bat poem beckoning...!

The summer holidays are never a great time for writing and this year is no different. I have barely written a thing over the last six weeks, also not helped by health issues. But the kids are now back at school and I have the peace and quiet to work myself back into the writing zone.

I started by looking over the poems I've written over the last year or so, casting a fresh eye over them and editing where needed. I have also managed to finally fix my printer and have printed out all my post Madame Ecosse poems to start thinking about the direction of my writing and get a sense of what my next collection will look like.

It's an exciting thought, thinking about a next collection. I remember when I put my first pamphlet together and how a full collection then seemed to be an insurmountable challenge, and now I'm thinking about my third full collection!

It's funny how the germ of a poem can suddenly spring out of nowhere. The other day I was on the bus to work and happened to pass by an old telephone box with a spray of oak leaves lying on the shelf inside. I knew immediately it would lead to a poem and quickly jotted down some notes. So today, in blissful peace, I'm working on that poem whilst reading bits and pieces of Anne Carson. What I have grown to love about Carson's work is that she reminds me to stay true to myself in my writing no matter how weird it may be!