It was a saucy spatula, and it was euphoric.
Checking in on my new year's resolutions.
Hello friends. Today is the longest day of the year, and thus if I cannot find the time to write my June newsletter today, when hope is there? As is so often the way, it is the times when I have the most going on that I have the least time to tell people about the goings on (hence why some of my finest newsletters came during lockdown), but I wanted to wait until I had a moment to do this properly, and here we finally are. I had a gig last night in Penrith where I came out on stage to a packet of crisps left by the microphone, and two audience members sprinted off at the end to buy me a can of Schofferhöfer from Morrison’s before it closed. It was still light at 10pm when I was driven back to my lovely hosts, who proceeded to make me cheese on toast with four different kinds of cheese. I hope you have a similarly nourishing/cheesy solstice.
To celebrate being six months in, I thought I would try something different this month and check in on the 20 achievable New Year’s Resolutions I set myself at the start of the year, then I’ll share a few announcement-y bits at the end.
12 Achieved New Year’s Resolutions (!)
2. To drop something, and then catch it again before it hits the ground.
3. To decide what my favourite shape is. I’m pretty sure it’s going to be a hexagon.
5. To tell someone what I do, without it sounding like an apology.
6. To find a new musical act I love, or rather to let them find me.
9. To buy more drinks for friends and to let friends buy more drinks for me. It may feel like these two would cancel each other out, but there is in fact a net gain of both drinks and time spent with friends.
14. To sleep the whole way through the night.
15. To share something that isn’t necessarily perfect, or even finished.
16. To be something that isn’t necessarily perfect, or even finished.
17. To hug someone I haven’t hugged before.
18. To make a good enough new friend that this isn’t weird.
19. To fail at least one of these and for that to be okay.
20. To have an unexpectedly amazing day.
Notes
2 - It was a saucy spatula, and it was euphoric.
3 - I’m pretty sure it is a hexagon.
5 - A week after I wrote this I went to San Fransisco and when stopped by American customs I have never been more apologetic in my life about what I do. However 5 months of self-esteem building later I very chirpily told a taxi driver I was a poet and he didn’t think it was weird !
6 - I did a Sofar sounds gig in February alongside the brilliant Lois, who I then asked to be my support act on one of my Leeds tour dates. I’ve also used a song of hers in my next Daily Service on Radio 4, and she’s performing at Greenbelt this year! Check her out here.
9 - Chris came down to watch the first England Euros game on Sunday followed by a late night board game session of Cosmic Encounter. Drinks were involved. I was up bright and early for an interview with BBC Lincolnshire at 7:30 the next morning. Chris was up less bright, and less early. 10/10 would do again.
14 - My darling niece brought my book to me and singled this one out to laugh in my face because when we have a baby this won’t be possible. Luckily I managed to get it done before then !
15 - This was a self-fulfilling prophecy as I wasn’t sure about this poem when I first shared it and have since tweaked it.
16 - This has been exemplified by what Grace calls my ‘Hot Mess Era’ of leaving my water bottle/notebook/wallet behind on various train platforms in the space of a few weeks.
17/18 - Not to brag but this has happened loads. Mainly from people who have heard the poem at gigs and offered a hug afterwards, which feels like cheating, but still counts.
19 - The beauty of this is there are still 8 left to fail, and if I achieve all of them, then I technically fail this one, which means I technically achieve this one, which means I technically fail this one and so on. Hooray for Maths!
20 - Playing at the Royal Albert Hall what what I would call an expectedly amazing day. The one that springs to mind included going to see Dune Part 2 and arriving EXACTLY as the trailers finished and the film started. Yes. Please.
8 Not-Yet-Achieved Resolutions
To have an unexpectedly amazing hair day.
4. To work out the perfect amount of time to cook an Aldi hash brown in the oven. The packet says 18-20 minutes but I would like to crack the exact science.
7. To turn a sneeze into an impromptu beatbox session.
8. To pack swimming trunks on the train from Margate to London and beyond. To change into those trunks in the toilet on the return journey, then see how long it takes to sprint from the station to the sea.
10. To give up on a book that I am not enjoying. To remind myself that the characters will not take it personally, and that if I am 4/5ths of the way through and still just trying to get into it, chances are it may not be for me.
11. To cuddle a giant rabbit. I managed this on the 30th December last year, and I am already looking for my next fix.
12. To go a week without showering. Instead bathing regularly in the sea like the glorious mermaid that I am.
13. To get on my bike without a destination in mind.
Notes
4 - I’ve settled on a straight 20 minutes with no preheating, but my friend Erin mentioned putting them under the grill and I’ve been meaning to follow up on it ever since.
10 - I’m mainly reading pregnancy books and I can 100% Guarantee I will have to give up on one at some point, although possibly not down to enjoyment levels.
Everything else - There’s still time.
Bonus Resolution: Be a Legend and Have a Great Time.
When I first heard the term manifesting I admit I rolled my eyes. I have since come to believe it is simply prayer for those with a different vocabulary (or god!), and just like prayer it works best when accompanied by actions. Whatever you want to call it this resolution is what I settled on as my mantra for the start of the year and it really feels like I’m having a moment with it. I have met so many lovely people on this tour who have shared their stories with me about how they found my poetry or how my poetry found them and I’ve never felt more fulfilled or sure of what I am doing in my life. Also Jacinda Ardern followed me on instagram yesterday who is one of the greatest legends of the lot, so I must be doing something right.
Some Things That Have Happened
My last newsletter was just before tour started and that has been most of my life since. Without having the Edinburgh Fringe to whip the show into shape I especially loved getting to do five shows back to back in Bristol to kick things off and have thoroughly enjoyed taking it all over the country since. I’m about halfway through, and you can see below where there are still tickets left, or I’m starting to put together the next leg so please let me know in the comments if you feel like I’ve neglected you thus far. In-between tour highlights have included commuting from Bristol to Margate and back to be an auctioneer for my local primary school, hanging out with some adorable robots for National Numeracy Day, reading a poem at one of my best friends’ wedding, and getting to ride on both a miniature railway AND and a tractor for open farm day. I also painted a giant sun in the baby room with a combination of lasers, masking tape and a protractor and I’m feeling really good about it.
Some Things That Are About To Happen
As well as carrying on tour (have I mentioned that I’m on tour?) I have written a daily service for Radio 4 that is going out on Monday, and I have been asked to write a poem for Team GB for the Olympics that we are filming next week, so I can hopefully share more about that in July. I also wrote a poem for Simple Politics encouraging people to register to vote before the deadline on Tuesday, and now that that deadline has passed I would just like to encourage you to vote for someone good. Grace is voting for me by proxy as I am spending election day in Bath with the fab Georgie Jones as support, if you’d like to come and hang out with me they’ve just opened up the balcony seats. We also recorded our final Something Borrowed of the season but there are two more episodes to come out which are on my to do list just under Write June’s Newsletter - in the meantime you can catch up with previous episodes here.
Final Thoughts
I now have almost 150k followers on Instagram and one of them is Jacinda Ardern. I don’t really know how the algorithm works but poems that have been popular recently include one about how great my knees are, one about inter-railing, and the one that means the most to me, Wonderful. Everything I’ve written is with a view with trying to connect with people and it is the most vulnerable poems that seem to connect the most (also my knees). Rather than get hung up on the numbers it is once again the individual messages people have sent me that have absolutely floored me, and reminded me that I want to keep doing this forever, so thank you again for being a part of that. Let’s do this again at some point in the next 11-42 days.
Stay Brilliant x
I’m so pleased to hear all your news Harry. Thanks for a lovely email. Also Jacinda Ardern!!! 🎉 Looking forward to hearing your team GB olympics poem.