{"id":552,"date":"2016-03-22T00:02:33","date_gmt":"2016-03-22T00:02:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jamesort.co.uk\/?p=552"},"modified":"2016-07-11T14:34:20","modified_gmt":"2016-07-11T14:34:20","slug":"procrastination-in-poetry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jamesort.co.uk\/procrastination-in-poetry\/","title":{"rendered":"Procrastination in poetry"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n\t

\u00a0<\/p>\n

So it has been a while since my initial flurry of posts. \u00a0<\/p>\n

The feathering of my nest has taken me longer than I thought. \u00a0<\/p>\n

It's also been a hectic few weeks. I\u00a0have had a couple of wonderful weekends teaching wire, put a fantastic school project to bed and my owl has\u00a0been the poster boy for the Oxford Art Society. \u00a0All of which have been both fun and inspiring. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Not much sculpture has been made though. \u00a0And this has not gone unnoticed... \u00a0Least of all by Gaby Turner, who\u00a0seeing me procrastinate on more than one occasion, took it upon herself to write me a wee poem. \u00a0<\/p>\n

As was World Poetry Day on the 21st March it seemed right to share it. \u00a0<\/p>\n

On hearing it\u00a0I simultaneously\u00a0smiled, laughed, got cold sweats and a overwhelming sense of nausea.<\/p>\n

Needless to say, it has been a wake up call. Time to get working....<\/p>\n

So without further ado...<\/p>\n

Art Inaction by Gaby Turner<\/strong><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the tale of an artist with lots on his plate
who liked to procrastinate.
It\u2019s here to remind you: don\u2019t leave things too late
as the stress will accumulate.<\/p>\n

James was an expert in not getting done
all the things that he needed to do.
Each day his to-do list\u2019s a hundred things long
and ends up being a hundred and two.<\/p>\n

Now, with four exhibitions in which he\u2019s taking part
and forty-odd sculptures to make,
you\u2019d think he\u2019d be endlessly making new art
but no, here\u2019s his fatal mistake:<\/p>\n

When time is tight just take your list
and work from last to first
important things should be dismissed;
priorities reversed.<\/p>\n

Design a decal for the van,
install a shelf or two;
screw on the handles, handyman,
and label jars of goo.<\/p>\n

He\u2019ll fix the sculptures others break
then give them legs and eyes,
play board games over tea and cake;
aerobic exercise.<\/p>\n

Friends would ask \u201cHow\u2019s it going?\u201d and James would reply
\u201coh quite slowly,\u201d and he would explain \u2013
\u201cArt in Action\u2019s not till the fourteenth of July
so don\u2019t panic, that\u2019s twelve months away!\u201d<\/p>\n

He swept and mopped; he stacked and chopped
to keep the stove alight.
He mowed the grass, tended his crops,
cooked dinner every night.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow\u2019s the art going James?\u201d With a nod he\u2019d reply
\u201cnot too bad\u201d and he\u2019d tell them again \u2013
\u201cArt in Action\u2019s not till the fourteenth of July
so don\u2019t panic, that\u2019s six months away!\u201d<\/p>\n

He checked the praying mantises
a dozen times a day
and sometimes sketched the fantasies
of what he\u2019d \u2013 one day \u2013 make.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat have you made James?\u201d and James would reply
he\u2019d start \u201csoon, or tomorrow, okay \u2013
Art in Action\u2019s not till the fourteenth of July
so don\u2019t panic, that\u2019s three months away!\u201d<\/p>\n

He\u2019d get his inbox down to nil,
make sure the bills were paid;
spent evenings loading up the kiln
with what his students made.<\/p>\n

He wasted a morning, he wasted a day;
pretty soon he had wasted a week
When that week became months people started to say
\u201chang on, what\u2019s going in your boutique?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you make things then where are the things that you make?
If you paint, well then what do you paint?
Show us creatures, and wonders; the sculptures you bake:
You\u2019re an artist? It seems like you ain\u2019t!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cJames isn\u2019t it time you made something to show?\u201d \u201cWhy
must you keep moaning,\u201d he\u2019ll say \u2013
\u201cArt in Action\u2019s not till the fourteenth of July
so don\u2019t panic, that\u2019s a whole month away!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOh no, now it\u2019s July and no sculptures exist!
Nothing\u2019s done and there\u2019s two weeks to go!
Quick quick, write some lists, then write lists of the lists
of the things I must make for the show.\u201d<\/p>\n

A cheetah arises before the day breaks,
racing fast to the finish line.
By lunchtime, a lion, a couple of snakes:
\u201cI\u2019d enjoy this if I had the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the final day James just can\u2019t do any more
and he sits back to see what he\u2019s done.
His eyelids are drooping, his fingers are sore;
no sign of the thing that\u2019s called fun.<\/p>\n

The safari\u2019s ok but because of delays
there are birds made from unfired clays;
there\u2019s a tiger that\u2019s shite
and a toucan that\u2019s white
as he ran out of time for the glaze.<\/p>\n

Art in Action kicks off, and kicks off with a bang,
but instead of the forty he planned,
there\u2019s ten sculptures for sale
what a miserable fail!
By the end of day one: empty stand.<\/p>\n

Dearie me \u2013 he was more in demand than he thought
and he sold every one of the pieces he\u2019d brought.
So what will he do
when it comes to day two?
Now what will you sell, Mr Ort?<\/p>\n

\u201cI wish I\u2019d begun back in March,\u201d he declared,
\u201cand I wish I\u2019d done more to prepare.
If I had made forty
and not been so naughty
I might be a millionaire!\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0So it has been a while since my initial flurry of posts. \u00a0The feathering of my nest has taken me longer than I thought. \u00a0It’s also been a hectic few […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":581,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jamesort.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/552"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jamesort.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jamesort.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jamesort.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jamesort.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=552"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jamesort.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/552\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jamesort.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/581"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jamesort.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=552"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jamesort.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=552"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jamesort.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}