Blog 22 – Set in Concrete – On each blog Ms Paige Turner tells an intentional fib. This bi-month wins four handout sheets on concrete poetry.
The days leading up to the Dear John deadline I waited for the missives to arrive on my doormat. Now that deadline has past, I wait for builders. They didn’t turn up one day until lunchtime. I said, “Where have you beeeeeeeeen?”
“Cement,” they replied.
Where there is a delivery of cement, that’s where builders are and they are nowhere to be seen today. There must be cement being laid somewhere in Beaconsfield but not here.
I know that being set in concrete is not very flexible but I’ve learnt that building tight foundations takes time and it’s best not to rush the pudding cooking to mix my metaphors rather than my cement. 153 Dear John entries take careful reading by judges, production crew and actors. We should have a decision by the end of September and I will post the short list on my website and let all entrants know that I am doing so.
It was great to meet up with our judge Tony McHale who was thrilled that we have raised the £765 for the Heart charities and filming obviously excites him. He energised us with his enthusiasm. By us I mean the Creative Ink/Dear John production team: Miss Juke Box, Master Brylream, Master Sound Advice and Master Mind and whilst the reading of Dear Johns by actors takes place so we are trying to find dates for filming and it’s all about what’s in the air at present rather than what’s firmly on the ground. Here’s to the whole project cementing for cement is made up of more than concrete. Master Mind is marrying our daughter – Miss Trial – next year and so life is ‘full on’ as the young ones say. Miss Trial, for obvious reasons, is having a busy time of things.
Right – so where is Master Builder then?
Congratulations to Georgia Connell – a young local writer who rightly spotted that the Dear John deadline was July 31st and not August 1st although even I might have been forgiven for thinking so if you saw the number of late entries.
Are the handouts on cement poetry rather than concrete poetry?
Which has more going for it? Concrete or cement?
Cement does not get laid. Certainly not in Beaconsfield!
Cement made up of more than concrete? Concrete is–and here’s my favourite recipe–
1 spade of cement (Portland preferred but others will do equally well)
4 spades of sand (sharp if you can get it but soft will be adequate)
3 to 6 spades of aggregate depending on where you get laid
Mix thoroughly while dry then add water until it has a consistancy reminiscent of the words used to describe it–blodge, gobbo, splodge etc.
Add more water on a hot day, less on a dry day.
So you see, cement, mortar (sand and cement) and concrete are not to be treated lightly. Truth is, if it didn’t exist, you’d probably fall straight through the floor this very minute. So next time you seek to denigrate this important material….