Saturday and I have slept well. I wake knowing that today is Poetry Stanza day. I take my vitals and get myself out of bed as my partner goes of for an early morning coffee morning with a friend. I make breakfast and open my post, where I find my next oncology appointment is fixed for mid December. It is always a big decision what to where to the Stanza, I give it a lot of thought and decide that I will wear one of my Arizona Coyote ice hockey jersey, with Jeans. Its a look I like mainly because ice hockey jerseys are so comfortable and hide a lot. Its the ability to flap about in it and it fits the l look. I have a little while to spend before I leave for the meeting so I see if there is any football on but while checking I opened the Arizona Coyotes App on my phone to see how they are doing in the new season as I had not the usual result texts I get during the season. The App opens and I am taken aback to find that the Arizona Coyotes no longer exits! I mean how did that happen, actually it happened because the franchise went bust and the owner walked away. All the assets, that’s the players, got shipped off to Utah, one state north, where a new franchise in the NHL is starting up. I am very taken aback, but I realise that my collection of Coyote Jerseys will now become rarities over time. Strange how life moves on. I am not a Duck or Penguin or any of the other array of animals or epithets that the other ice hockey franchises are, I feel let down and abandoned by the Coyotes. One less dependable thing in my life.
I drive to the stanza meeting and take my place around the table of ten fellow poets. We read each others poems and make our observations for the afternoon. My poem is accepted, which is nice. I wonder if I am saying that I feel accepted now? There are some tricky moments, like when I have no idea what a poem is about, or wonder why anyone would go to such lengths to be that obscure. The trickiest is the moment when one of the group rehearses a remembrance day poem and is the only one who reads his own poem. I am fascinated by the tattoo of a remembrance battlefield and the wearing of a checked neckerchief. This is a an ex service man whose poem means a lot to him as does his relationship with the armed forces with all its meaning for him. I said nothing, there is a time and place. At the end of the meeting I dive home having checked my tyre pressure gauges and turned off my i-stop indicator. My car is showing signs of age , its electrics are becoming… idiosyncratic.
Once home I eat tea and settle down to watch Strictly. The family watch a romantic film (Thor actor meets Jurassic Park actor), I try watching some rugby highlights and then start to draft the blog. I might or might not get to the football highlights or a film but I will get to my night meds before going to bed. It feels like a stimulating but tiring day, a step towards engagement again.
