Shortlisted

In a bizarre twist of fate, I've ended up on the shortlist for the Heart in Mouth poetry competition. It's still settling in.

I recorded my entry on Saturday while my dinner was burning in the oven. I must have made a dozen attempts before I actually made it through in one reading, so nervous about it I couldn't get it right.

I wrote the poem, Say Something, during a time of confusion. I had no intentions then to do anything with it. To me it's still just this poem I wrote in bed, just to write something that day.

I don't really know how to express how happy I am to have made the shortlist.

And now I've been invited to read it at an event with the other poets on the list. It's terrifying and exciting at the same time. I figure that's a good thing.

So, that's the present situation. My thanks to judges Dave Lordan and Colm Keegan for putting me through this far, and to the Writers' Soc at college for their support (in this, and last Saturday.)