This is from the Beatles’ song It’s Getting Better. I remember it was going through my head again and again during a particularly busy and arduous time at MKS (an old employer). The song goes “I have to admit / it’s getting better! / It’s getting better / all the time! (It can’t get much worse!)”
But it is getting better. Well, after a summer of twiddling my thumbs, September is seeing work pick up. I now have an assignment starting this Friday. It’s a temporary job, so don’t get excited, but every little bit helps, and it will do me a lot of good to get back onto a regular schedule.
Erin won the George Cadogan Award for her poem Sonnet of the Ants. The prize included a nice, shiny plaque that will go up amongst her other awards. We were at City Hall this evening to pick up Erin’s award and we were treated to readings from several other talented poets. The best of these was Scott (last name unknown), who owns a used book store and was invited specifically to perform a selection of his poems.
And, yesterday, Erin read at the Fringe of the Eden Mills Writers Festival. We managed to gather together a good crowd. Even if a lot of it was clearly family and friends (thanks, Dan, for driving me out!), we had six readers there (prose and poetry), so each reader read before a lot of strangers, and that’s always a positive (if frightening) experience.
It was my first time to the Eden Mills festival and, I must say, it was startling to see this sleepy village transformed into a pedestrian mall — even more startling when you consider that this mall is lined with books and everybody is out to browse those books and hear authors speak. I heard Dennis Lee and Bill Richardson reading in the children’s section. I also heard Nino Ricci read a passage from his book Testament. From that alone, I have to recommend you buy this book.
I have to admit, as I went past the displays and listened to authors reading, I thought to myself: I want to be a part of this. Sure, I always think differently the moment just before going up on a stage (like when I read a portion of Rosemary and Time at Kathy Stinson’s Farewell Party at the Kitchener Public Library), but I usually beat the stagefright. And I usually feel really good after speaking. Yeah, I could do this, if I’m lucky enough to be published, and I’m lucky enough to be asked. Will someone ask me?