Bards for Babes

[bctt tweet=”There’s a silly noodle on my plate, It won’t be picked up or cooperate.”] There’s a silly noodle on my plate, It won’t be picked up or cooperate. Though I can put a smile on a face Or I can pretend to be a shoelace. This noodles here for me to doodle And make the world mine, absoloodle!

You see this silly noodle on my plate, You won’t be able to confiscate. I’ll eat it up and let it…

Ethiopian young women in Lalibela

Fishing on Lake Awasa Ethiopia

Table Football in Ethiopia

  Never been colonised, what does that mean? More identity than I’ve ever seen. The lost and found or just lost look I see, Searching for ownership of identity. Never forced to believe their way is wrong, Never had to march to an alien song, Never stripped till the memory is a blur, Though there are internal bumps, I concur. They’re their bumps to own, not whipped from abroad, They’ll whip themselves with their umbilical cord. Stubborn and proud, means valued and free. Black pride here really isn’t necessary. There’s nothing to prove, the battle was won. Their year, their time, their rules, nothing has gone. I miss this, it’s something missing in me. I grew up begging for diversity. Displaced, misplaced, some gone without a trace, Family, history of an entire race. Now hanging somewhere where everything’s changed. Where fitting in has to be arranged. Never been colonised, what does that mean? So much more in the faces that I’ve seen. [bctt tweet=”Never been colonised, what does that mean? So much more in the faces that I’ve seen.”] Mama Grace

Ethiopian Wedding Lalibela

Ethiopian Wedding Lalibela

Orthodox Church service Lalibela

Priest in Lalibela

Priest in Lalibela

Man in the Lalibela market

There are so many things that I enjoy, There’s a fallout from my nightly dreams. I’ll wake to bring them all back together, Then rest full from joy, bursting at the seams.

The same satisfaction comes day and night, I’ll reach for the stars when I see a crack. I could toast in sunshine or jump in clouds wee, With the same mmm, as having a rice cake snack.

[bctt tweet=”These rice cake dreams are my…

This Mum is on Fire

It was an exciting challenge to be given the words of new mums and collaborate for the documentary ‘First Time Mum’, in order to write a poem that encapsulated their experiences. After being given an email, where each mum wrote their experience down, I ended up using a version of blackout poetry, as a stepping stone to expose the essence of what they’ve been through. After blacking out everything…

How do I fit?

I want Grace to be true to who she is and to trust her instincts in life; doing what makes her happy. In my experience, it’s hard when your parents want you to take a path that you don’t want to take and equally don’t want you to take a path that you’ve taken.

I’ve had two sayings in my head.

‘You can’t force a square peg into a round hole’

and one that was a central belief when I worked with…

Ode to Gina Ford

Being a mum in this world is much like anything, everybody does it differently and when mums meet up we talk about what works and what doesn’t, in our opinions.

One thing that has worked for me is Gina Ford and I know there are different opinions and I fully respect everyone’s experience but I’ve had a positive experience and would like to speak up for it. This is especially as it gets pitched…

Where’s Your Shoe?

Help me out, Where’s your shoe? Let’s get out, Where’s your shoe?

You had it, Where’s your shoe? I saw it, Where’s your shoe?

Remember, Where’s your shoe? Please blabber, I beg you.

Please help me, Where’s your shoe? Point and see, Where’s your shoe?

I love you! Here’s a shoe. It won’t do, We need two.

Come now, Where’s the other shoe? But how? Where’s the other shoe?

Think now, Where’s the other…