Autumn always gives me that going back to school feeling. Even though this golden prelude to the winter is more about harvesting than growth, for me it's about new beginnings too. It seems fitting for my writing residency to finally finish at this time of year. It's been a real education about both the limits and possibilities of a writing residency and I feel a more creatively confident than I did a year ago.
For my last day I had a final one to one session scheduled with Annette, whose poetry you can read here. I have seen Annette's poetry really develop over the months I have been working with her. I was chuffed when she said 'You know I now realise how important editing is in poetry.' I am such a stickler for thorough editing !
After our meeting I took a walk around the garden one last time and thought about the residency, the highpoint being the Poetry Gazebo festival. I took some photographs of the falling petals and the last growth of summer. Last winter I bought a digital camera off my old friend Jacob and one of the unforeseen outcomes of my residency has been my renewed fascination with photography. In February 2011 I have an exhibition of my flower 'portraits' at Oval House. All in all not a bad outcome at all.
