6×6 Week 4: Coziness

THE PROMPT:

a). In part because the poet and maker Éireann Lorsung recently offered this sweet, sweet collaborative invitation, and in part because it’s the time of year when it’s dark before you know it, and there are long evenings to fill with… well, it’s week 4 of lockdown in Ireland, so how are you filling your evenings? Dinner for yourself or the family? Trying to find a tiny corner of solitude somewhere? Or do you get excited to light a fire, make soups and teas and other warm things? Do you remember to place a hot water bottle under the covers before bedtime? Do you have winter pyjamas? Do you snuggle your sweetie or a fur baby? Is this a time of year when you get a lot of reading or knitting or darning done? What makes you feel cozy?

b). (As before) respond to any of the following things inspiring me this week. What does it make you think of? What does it make you feel? What does it remind you of? What does it make you want to do/ see/ be?

Things inspiring me this week:

1. Afro-Irish singer Tolu Makay’s new single “Wild Thang.” Her voice and vibe are so mellow and smooth and warm, I can almost forget it’s November. Or not forget, but just be consoled by all of this beauty and live my life and be my free self.

2. I love this poem by Gerry Smyth (in May 2018 issue of Cyphers), not least of which because the poem is describing the precise part of Dublin where I live. I am particularly drawn to the “old coats in the hall, heavy and warm,” I know their weight and smell, how long they retain body heat and then, in a way, keep each other warm in the hall.

3. I had seen and admired Tony O’Shea’s photographs of Dublin before, but it took close to a good year of friendly exchanges with Tony the guardian of Rua, the Irish terrier, to realize that that Tony is the photographer. Tony’s photos of a bygone Dublin remind me of another photographer I love, Josef Koudelka — I can feel in the photographs the kinship I feel between Ireland and Koudelka’s Eastern Europe.

See opening prompt for more instructions.

P.S. No pressure to share. However, if you benefit from sharing, here are some options:
a) share on social media with the #6x6_2020_ie and find each other.
b) if you want feedback from me, I am happy to do it for a small fee. Let me know if you would like feedback on the last 3 prompts, for 30 Euro, payable by PayPal (you do not need an account; I can send you an invoice) and let me know at seamusfeathers2017 at gmail dot com). Send a maximum of 1000 words of your writing to seamusfeathers2017 at gmail dot com by midnight on Sundays, and I will turn it around to you (probably!) before the next prompt.