Things we know and things we don't

I can be so contrary. I've changed the name of the ol' blog again. These things I know. That'll do for this week. 

It has echoes of one of my favourite novels; a book by Wally Lamb called,  'I Know This Much is True.'

And it ties in with a poetry theme I'll be exploring at Edinburgh Book Festival in August. Is parenting easier because you don't know what lies ahead? We learn fast as parents, we have to, and there's always  a skip-load more to learn. 

Hindsight is defined as: understanding of a situation or event only after it has happened or developed. I think that's where most poetry hangs out. That's where we have to look for it. 

But wait - did I just say, Edinburgh International Book Festival? I'm still so thrilled to be asked. Here's the link to the Throwing Voices event (with photo of Basque writer Uxue Alberdi). Come along and see us. 

Before that, if you're in Glasgow on Wednesday evening, pop up to their cafe for this event, when I'll be talking about the fantastic New Writers' Awards and readíng a few poems alongside talented Kirstin Innes and Juliette Forrest, an ascending star in young adult literature. 

Did you catch 8 DAYS to the Moon and Back? It was a mind-expanding watch. I kept thinking, but HOW? How did they DO IT? They hadn't even invented the iPhone. Or the Internet. 

The moon looks beautiful tonight. Almost full. Once, I talked to a man who was taking photos of the moon with a tripod, by the V&A museum, on a cold February night. He confessed that most of the great moon shots are photo shopped. They shoot the moon as it is, but make it bigger in context to the buildings or landscape. That's okay in my book. A wee bit of embellishment can't hurt.