You don't know what you've got til it's gone

I had to have some surgery in 2021. I made a film poem out of the experience, called Aphrodite's Child,  which you can see on Vimeo  here.

I have been so lucky this year in that the Arts Council gave me a Developing Your Own Practice grant to experiment with poetry films. I've been working with Janet Lees (here's an example of her work) who makes the most amazing poetry films and who has taught me so much. Also, my friend Kirsten Luckins has helped me focus and she and I took the footage for this film in Saltburn early one glorious morning in September. 

The whole experience of discovering an ovarian cyst, then having it and the ovary removed, then wondering if this is an indication of something more serious, was life-changing. By this I mean I understood more fully what it is to fear your own extinction. Of course I have paid lip service to this in the past, joked about it, written about it. All so very superficial. Life feels massively more precious now. And uncertain. 
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