Blah Di Da

Latest Episodes:

Balancing darkness and light in poetry Apr 20, 2023

Show notes

I began as a humourist in my 20s, writing for The Chaser and making 'gag' cartoons for Inkgroup greeting cards. But I found flat out humour limiting, until I started to mix poetry with it in my 30s.

My instant download eBook that essences all the useful things I've mentioned on creativity from my podcast (82 pages, PDF):

Um: Things I've Learned About Creativity And Poetry

My 'Best Of' illustrated poems:

Confetti Tornado

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Searching for truth and wisdom in unlikely places Apr 14, 2023

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I talk about searching for truth and wisdom in unlikely places and separating the art from the artist. I went down a Charles Manson rabbit hole this week. This episode is obviously not an 'endorsement' of him or his actions, (clearly he was a psychopath) rather, some of his quotes, removed from the context of his life and legal convictions (and objectively looked at), are undoubtedly interesting.

My instant download eBook that essences all the useful things I've mentioned on creativity from my podcast (82 pages, PDF):

Um: Things I've Learned About Creativity And Poetry

My 'Best Of' illustrated poems:

Confetti Tornado

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Adulting in a creative life Apr 06, 2023

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I've found it hard to balance being in fairly regular contact with the old inner-child, to help creativity, while adulting in a world that has no time for that stuff.

My instant download eBook that essences all the useful things I've mentioned on creativity from my podcast (82 pages, PDF):

Um: Things I've Learned About Creativity And Poetry

My 'Best Of' illustrated poems:

Confetti Tornado

Find me:

Creativity in trying-not-trying Mar 30, 2023

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I took a few weeks break from writing (a few weeks back). I'm still completely distracting myself with football and de-prioritised writing, and voila, I've never felt more creative. Creativity is a difficult creature that sometimes only seems to arrive when it's not exclusively focused on.

My instant download eBook that essences all the useful things I've mentioned on creativity from my podcast (82 pages, PDF):

Um: Things I've Learned About Creativity And Poetry

My 'Best Of' illustrated poems

Confetti Tornado

Find me:

The exhaustion of acting normal in a weird world Mar 22, 2023

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Nine-to-fives are really just paid acting gigs. Popular and award winning culture rarely makes sense to the heart. The world talks in cliche, so words may as well be numbers. Some thoughts on the strangeness of the world, the strangeness of culture, and how it works for art and writing.

My instant download eBook that essences all the useful things I've mentioned on creativity from my podcast (82 pages, PDF):

Um: Things I've Learned About Creativity And Poetry

My 'Best Of' illustrated poems

Confetti Tornado

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The past is a foreign country Mar 16, 2023

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The past is a foreign country, wrote L.P. Hartley. Here I wander around Richmond where I grew up in the 80s. Things have changed. A small reflection on what the world was and what the world has become.

My instant download eBook that essences all the useful things I've mentioned on creativity from my podcast (82 pages, PDF):

Um: Things I've Learned About Creativity And Poetry

My 'Best Of' illustrated poems

Confetti Tornado

Find me:

Self publishing isn't a dirty word Mar 08, 2023

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How I started publishing; getting published by a publisher who isn't you; and self publishing. Independent music and film is glamorised - self publishing books is seen as dirty and 'vanity publishing'. But the tides have well and truly changed.

My instant download eBook that essences all the useful things I've mentioned on creativity from my podcast (82 pages, PDF):

Um: Things I've Learned About Creativity And Poetry

My 'Best Of' illustrated poems

Confetti Tornado

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Second week off writing thoughts Mar 01, 2023

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2 weeks off writing and I'm waffling about complaint poetry, writing to untangle mess, and clues to find a new direction for writing.

My instant download eBook that essences all the useful things I've mentioned on creativity from my podcast (82 pages, PDF):

Um: Things I've Learned About Creativity And Poetry

My 'Best Of' illustrated poems

Confetti Tornado

Find me:

Creative burnout - relaxing is hard work Feb 22, 2023

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I'm feeling creatively burnt out, I can't see the poetry in things anymore. Clouds look dead in the sky. So I have to engage in this paradox: the best creativity only comes when unforced and relaxed; so I'm forcing myself to take a break from creativity to relax.

My instant download eBook that essences all the useful things I've mentioned on creativity from my podcast (82 pages, PDF):

Um: Things I've Learned About Creativity And Poetry

My 'Best Of' illustrated poems

Confetti Tornado

Find me:

Editing, writing and painting my new book CONFETTI TORNADO Feb 16, 2023

Show notes

My new book, CONFETTI TORNADO (new and selected works) is the first book of poetry I've illustrated/painted. It's also a collection of works that are some of my faves drawn from my 3 current books, and I'm still not sick of them.

In this episode, thoughts on :

•putting the book together

•editing: leaving out cultural hot-takes, and more towards anachronistic/grasping at innocence

•how colour and painting influenced the writing

Out now:

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