2/30 INTO THE FIRE

Here be number 2 my lovelies :)


INTO THE FIRE

You keep the kind of secrets
that only ex's can possess
that sets friendships apart
and with no line ever set to cross
that distance is fine with all involved
but sometimes, just sometimes
a coldness drifts through the distance
like a cool winter breeze
through bare, lonesome trees
surrounded in groups
but standing alone
the way wood is raised
from the cradle of the ground to do
knowing that to be part
of one as a whole
is the full stop of a fire in heat
labelled the end
in the embers and ash
no one looks through
for any remaining sign of life
cause when the wood is cut
and roots severed
no worthwhile life will ever roam
through layers of crisp, wooden skin
hard and tight,
tired and worn,
weathered by more than just winter storms
the axe plays white knight to
or more accurately
through the flickering fizz of flames
you whail
frying pan (, oh frying pan you bastard you into the fire I go from you.)

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Happy Belated 1/30- THE DISTANCE BETWEEN

Better late than never so they say :)
So fashionably late to the party here I come people :)
30/30, it is ooooon! :)

THE DISTANCE BETWEEN

My soles are as pitch black as the rocks you hide under
since every step I took was after you,
spur of the moment,
called to action
no time to think or wait,
or for proper, appropriate footwear.
No, only time to tentatively, hurriedly
follow at a distance
behind the unknowing
in search of truth
you felt the need to change
with distance
moving hearts away from home.
You got your reasons I'm as sure as night follows day
but I can't understand them,
don't know their form or shape,
nor sound
cause you won't speak them to me.
A mothers bond and will and way
that's all I have to go on
and she can travel the distance
when a space needs to be made
and boundaries placed and kept
between the hand that feeds
and the heart that beats.

-----------------------------------------------------

...And so it begins...
Stay tuned, more tomorrow.... :) x

INKED GIRLS WRITE FOR FREE COMP NOW OPEN. 10-15th FEB

Hello people this is a short post to announce the beginning of a new project-

INKED GIRLS WRITE FOR FREE.

Here's the skinny-

EVERY 3 MONTHS

I will announce it has begun and then you have

5 DAYS

to email me at HTROACH@AOL.COM with INKED GIRLS WRITE FOR FREE in the subject please to ask to win (or indeed you can put anything you want in the email)

I will then pick ONLY 5 WINNERS

But what's the prize hey!?!??!

A ONE OF A KIND, HAND DEVELOPED black and white photograph by my very own hands from my makeshift darkroom.

Each print will include a poem in some way, shape or form.

Each of the 5 winners will get a different, individual print.

Each print will be signed, dated and titled.

Let the madness commence............................

*** Just look how freaked out my little niece is by the awesomness of this project! :)

----------------------
P.S IN OTHER NEWS Holly is working on bashing out some projects for the next year and beyond.... I will keep you updated my lovelies :)

x

1st Poem of The New Year, from January 9th

After a friend shared a link to a YouTube video this poem happened :-


Minus The Age Limit of Bones

I've been called a lot of things
and Miss Misery is nothing new
my friend.
Through the words
smiles don't shine through
and I get labelled what's easy to define.
Teenage angst,
minus the age limit of bones
that have long past their prime
maybe so
but here's to proving them wrong
all the way.
Turning a new page
just for your view
so you know what I wish to show,
something better than old fodder
for stories of a girl they used to know.
I've been all sugar and spice
for you dear.
Smiles and similes
all the way to the grave,
even if a little sporadically.
Yeah I've been called a lot of things
but Miss Misery is something new
from you
and it kinda hurts
for you to prove them right
all these years
when you should have always known
I've meant every thing I've ever said
and every word you've ever read
honestly.

(c) HOLLY ROACH  2011
--------------------------------------------------------------

And yes the lovely Mister Elliot Smith had a hand in helping that poem come to be :)

Bearkat Review of 'The Happy' EP: OUT NOW

                                 ‘A Feisty, Feisty Piece of Little Heaven’

                                                        By Holly Roach

For some reason I have managed to hide under a rock over Bearkat’s The Happy EP birth into the world which does not make for a Happy Holly…Not till now that is…I may be 2 months behind the times but hey I’m fashionably late me.
I have to say that downloading and listening to the EP for the first time at 3:30 in the morning, strangely awake, wrapped up in a duvet cocoon with headphones on and eyes peacefully closed makes for an excellent introduction. Not that we were all completely strangers you must understand though. Thanks to the powers of youtube some of the songs I had already had the pleasure of hearing and indeed seeing from videos of the lady herself performing live on tour with her travelling band of merry men (minus the tights…I think…) aka Paul Starling on guitar and vocals, Kent Arnold on drums and Nick Sweet returning from Bearkat’s last album tour on trombone and other brassy goodness (though it has to be said they all do seem to know how to turn their hand to any needed instrument.)

With my review of Bearkat’s last, and début cd ‘Suitcase Swimmers’ 2 years ago I think I made it pretty well clear I love the ladies lilt so what of the distance of years? Well plainly put- Their is none.
The Happy is indeed an altogether briefer affair than its predecessor but stop right there if you think that makes for anything bad (other than in an Oliver ‘Please Bearkat can I have some more’ kind of a way.)
The classic points of delight from any knowledge of Bearkat’s back catalogue remain- The handclaps (Lord do I love a good handclap!), the glockenspiel, the pleasantly sombre lyrics, the ukulele of course, the folk spirit, did I mention the handclaps? A good old bit of tambourine and of course that voice of Miss Katy Pearson’s.

In my humble opinion the highlights of the album, that frankly is all one mass of different hues has to go to the 60’s beauty of ‘Through Loving You’ which after a listen or two I defy you to not sing along to! Also hats off to ‘Girl with the Broken Heart’ from its independent start to its metaly end, and hello do I hear spoons? My granddaddy would be so happy, god rest his soul!

On ‘Sugar and the Sea’ Bearkat also gets a little delightfully manly company from her touring buddy Mister Paul Starling halving the responsibilities of the song and making for a great number. (Note Holly does have a huge soft spot for male/lady vocal mixes in songs.)
I honestly am waiting (and it’s been around 5 years so far) to hear a song from this girl that I don’t like…Wait, well actually no I don’t want to hear such a thing but you get my point I am sure. Everything I have ever heard from her I have been sold on from the start, in a musical Jerry Maguire style. Holly is just patiently waiting for the day I can beam about how amazing ’Marie’ is on an album to you. Seriously. And for those impatient ones amongst you don’t even wait for the album, and indeed its review get watching this youtube video of it live off her last tour. It will rock your heart, if you have one!

http://www.youtube.com/user/merstone20#p/u/7/dSnybvS8nrk

P.S How beautifully lit/shot is that thing hey!  I do love a bit of black and white :)

As a writer, and more so as a lover of writing and words in general as good as the songs sound I always appreciate the poetry of Bearkat’s songs. (Yes I am one of those people who think song lyrics can be poetry. Not you know a Kylie song probably but please try and argue that Lenard Cohen and the such is not poetry to music, go on try it, I will laugh in your face, possibly poke you in the eye and then disown you…probably…) Pearson studied song writing at Berklee College of Music so I‘m sure that helps her out on the lyrical front. A song needs to and should sound good of course but a well thought out quality lyric behind the music packed with a good story to it just makes the whole thing a million times better, and Bearkat is frankly a f*ing rich millionaire in that respect, with very deep pockets still to fill.

The girl could probably frankly sing the phonebook, or heavens even a Madonna song and make them sound good for once. The girl has talent. The girl has style (and not just cause of that lovely dress!). The girl has a great EP in The Happy and has a very happy customer/ fan in me. So do yourself a favour and get those fingers working and head on over to http://www.bearkatbandcamp.com/ to get yourself a copy of the album.

For a measly $10 (roughly £6, any other currency sorry but you’ll have to do your own maths, Holly‘s brain can only do so much you know!) you can download yourself a copy of the cd and indeed listen to all the tracks in their beautiful entirety, you know if you are an untrusting fool who doesn’t believe a word I say or something! If you see the lady herself on tour you can even get your very own physical copy too so you can point and prod at the cutest cover artwork ever.

Track Listings
           1. The Happy
           2. Through Loving You
           3. Sugar and the Sea
           4. The Happy II
           5. Cocaine in All of Our Eyes
           6. Girl With The Broken Heart
           7. The Happy III
           8. Oh Henry

Websites to check out for Bearkat goodness-

Katy Pearson (aka Bearkat)
        - For The Happy- http://www.bearkatbandcamp.com/
        - Blog extravaganza (including fab song covers & delicious Bearkat cookie recipe) -
           http://www.bearkat.blogspot.com/
        - Invade her space- www.myspace.com/bearkatmusic
        - And even get up in her face on Facebook too on the fan page

Mister Paul Starling’s details-
        - http://www.paulstarling.blogspot.com/
        - http://www.paulstarling.bandcamp.com/ (including some swell tracks free to download)

Nick Sweet land-
        - www.myspace.com/nicksprojects  

Note: All photographs from Bearkat’s Facebook page by her friend and 2010 tour photographer Meredith Stone (The video is also from Meredith’s youtube channel).

http://www.meredithstonephotography.com/

The End.

Update- Blog & Poppyrock

Welcome to the improved world of Holly's thoughts & words, formely known as HollyRoachWordAndSight but taking a leaf out of Prince's book it now goes by the name of Inked Girls Write... If you've ever got yourself a copy of any of my handmade poetry merch the name will not be a stranger to you :) Speaking of which I noticed looking over my old posts in the revamp 2 things- I haven't posted anything for ages and also I didn't update you on the Poppy situation.  In a nutshell Poppy had not been hit by a car at all, as thought.  She had a couple of weeks of antibiotics & a couple of overnight stays at the vets.  She had to have the x-ray in the end & surgery to remove the growth on her back, which was dead tissue from an old wound and not Cancer thankfully- some of the tissue had to be sent away for testing to check it wasn't cancerous.  After being under house arrest for a month, & doing fine after her many stitches were removed & the hair had grown back a bit I let her out again.  She loved it & was climbing up every tree in sight! :)  A few months later now and she is doing fine.  You can hardly even tell where she had her stylish haircut! :)

The Poppyrock range is still avaliable if you would like any of the items listed in the last post.  I had a few sales but still had to shell out a lot from my savings.  Good job I didn't go to Aldeburgh Poetry Festival in November like I normally do cause frankly I wouldn't have had the money for Poppy then!

Here are a couple of pics of the Poppyrock book.

      

Doesn't it look lovely and homemade, all by hand.  Don't you just want yourself a copy?  And 1 for all your friends too!... :)  Visit http://www.hollyroach.com/ or http://www.etsy.com/shop/hollyroachpoetry to get yourself in possession of lovely wordyness.  With time I should be getting all the Poppyrock range up on Etsy.
Etsy is a fantastic site full of handmade, vintage and crafty things.  It's like Ebay's crafty, cooler cousin.  And no competative bidding you just buy the items out straight.  I love it :)

All new items for sale to pay for cat vet bill, including POPPYROCK COLLECTION

POPPYROCK COLLECTION AND A HOST OF NEW ITEMS NOW FOR SAAAALE PEOPLE :)
LIST OF ITEMS AND PRICES BELOW.

Simply take your pick, use your lovely brains to add it all up and either use PAYPAL to give me the dosh to HOLLYTROACH@AOL.COM
or IF YOU HAVE A UK BANK ACCOUNT send a cheque or postal order through the post :)

Their may be a bit of a delay between you paying for your goods & getting them, but fear not I am a 1 woman show & I will be making them from scratch so it takes a little time.
If I email you back to confirm your order have no doubt you WILL get your goods,
(I'll also include an estimated delivery date, please let me know if you need it for a certain date/ event & I will do everything I can to get it to you in time)
Patience people, it's a beautiful thing :)

What is POPPYROCK (as in Poppycock) I hear you ask?
Well on Monday I went to feed my kitty- Poppy only to find her dragging her back legs, unable to walk on them & with a bad cut on her back. I thought she might have been hit by a car. The vets tell me no, she actually has some kind of growth on her back that has got infected & is affecting her legs. She is currently at home on strict rest & antibiotics till Monday when she will be off back to the vets.
When I started thinking up things to sell in general & the POPPYROCK collection it was thinking I would have a big car vs cat vet bill to pay for, although she wasn't hit she could still need x-rays & surgery for the 'growth' so the bill could be as steep if not a lot more!

I do not wish to use Poppy, or any animal's poorlyness to make a buck I am just simply trying to find ways to gather money to pay for her care.

Some of the items listed I had planned to do anyway but Poppy's situation has made me bring them forward.

Pictures for some of the items will be up in the next few days.

If you have been umming & ahhing about getting a book then PLEASE buy one now, at their sale price
& you could always stock up on christmas presents! :)

Anything you buy will be much appreciated and I guarentee your good karma points will be racked up and coming back at you at some point! :)

To repeat-
Simply pick the items, add it up & send me the money through Paypal to HOLLYTROACH@AOL.COM & either write in the note what you have ordered & how many (& if you need them for/by a certain date/event) or drop me an email to say, with POPPYROCK in the subject heading.
If you have a UK bank account you can send me a cheque through the post or a postal order
Thank you :)

COMPLETE LIST OF ITEMS, including POPPYROCK COLLECTION

1. Plans To Change & Other Fables poetry book, on sale £5.50
2. Hand illustrated Plans To Change & Other Fables poetry book £8
3. Spoken word cd (10 tracks) £5
4. Handbound 'POPPYROCK' book of 10-15 poems £5
5. Poem print, an A4 print of a poem with illustration on thick paper/card, any poem from Plans or from my Poetry month poems, please say which £3.50
6. Limited edition poem print, same as above but only 1 of 50, numbered and signed £5
7. Personalised poem print, same as above but poem will be one individual to you £8
8. Hand made greetings card, any occasion (specifie), even usual ones with illustration & hand writen verse, single £2.50
9. Pack of 5 £8
10. Pack of 10 £15
11. Vouchor for wesbite for future use if you can't decide on what to get or for a gift of any £pound value from £1 to sky's the limit! :)
12. Hand knitted Poppyrock vegan scarf (choice of colours) £10
13. 2011 Poem calendar, a poem a day, with illustrations £5
14. Poetry postcards, with short poem and illustrations each £2 (which an additional £1 if you would like it addressed & sent to the person)
15. Pack of 5 £7
16. Pack of 10 £13
17. Paper boats Poppyrock mobil, made from vegan wool and coloured paper with lines from a poem written on each boat, or can write your own message on them for no extra fee £10
18. Individual Poppyrock paper boat, small £1.50
19. Large £3
20. Christmas cards, single £2.50
21. Pack of 10 £13
22. Personalised wedding poem, to read at a wedding £5
23. Personalised celebration poem, birthday, funeral, christening, etc £5
25. Donation, if you're feeling REALLY super swell and kind and want complete guarentee in some good karma :D

THANK YOU from me & Poppy :)

x

p.s You don't have to buy anything of course but it would be swell of ya! :) x