This week I completed a commitment to participate as a volunteer and judge in the 2nd annual Arts Carleton Place Youth Art Competition. Yesterday’s poem was a bit tongue-in-cheek about the event, which was in association with the Lambs Down Festival held in Carleton Place, Ontario.

From the Arts Carleton Place tent, we could just see the field where the sheep were being herded by a border collie, who was doing an excellent job. Around the corner, there were sheep being sheared, and fortunes being told, and many interesting items for sale from cupcakes to CDs of pan-pipe music. If you were hungry, you could indulge in maple syrup taffy or Belgian waffles, lamb burgers or Carib-style chicken. I don’t think I could have partaken of lamb after watching the sheep on the hoof.Besides, I was there to help out with the Arts Competitin. It was good to see so many young artists and poets taking part, and to see this particular challenge through to completion.

And yesterday I began reading The Craft and Business of Writing, to try to get a better focus on and approach to the practical side of being a poet. Is this more procrastination or is it a way to get past this block I have about submitting? I am not sure, but I am hoping that it will get me moving.

On a much more personal note, I also ended an on-off-on-off relationship that spanned the last six years. No going back this time. It was not a smooth closure, but a final one.