Away for May

I'm off the Europe this week.

Many of my recent posts mention how I write seasonal pieces. I pull out stories or poems, work on them while the setting is in season, and then put them away until the proper season returns. Hallowe'en. Christmas. Leap Day. I have been working on a couple of pieces for the last five or six Springs involving May Eve', also known as Walpurgis Night in certain realms, and Beltane in certain others. 

But this April's end I won't be at my writing desk; I'll be in Germany. My brother and I are travelling over for the Keep It True music festival. (http://www.keep-it-true.de/ , https://www.facebook.com/keepittruefestival). 

The band Fates Warning is giving a special headlining show at the festival. They are slated to perform the album "Awaken The Guardian" in its entirety, featuring all the album's original players. (http://www.fateswarning.com/)

Nearly thirty years ago, "Awaken The Guardian" changed the way I listen to music. It influenced the ways I thought and felt about imagination. "Awaken The Guardian" helped inspire me to become a writer. It serves even still to help guide my perspectives on music, on poetry, and on storytelling. Truly, the performance of this album possesses phenomenal meaning for me.

So, when I heard last year about the show, I fought to score some tickets. Then I began quietly marveling at the prospect of flying over and seeing the show. (Instead of marveling, I should have been preparing. I've never been off of North America before. My brother and I have been scrambling these last weeks to get all ready. Indeed, we have learned quite a lot about what to do and what not to do regarding international travel--and we haven't even departed yet!)

Anyhow, I am taking my Beltane writing with me. One work involves a writer journeying through Germany on his way to a fateful encounter atop the Harz Mountains. This will be the perfect opportunity to work on the piece. Never a more "seasonal setting" than this year's spring.

One catch is that I am also trying to finish a grueling semester of work toward my master's degree. I'll be away for part of the final crucial weeks of the semester. That also has been a scramble of harried preparation. I hope that doing schoolwork on the plane shall keep me caught up as well as focused away from the terrifying fact that I'll be buzzing through the sky six miles above the cold, dark Atlantic Ocean. 

After the seminal show in Germany, my brother and I will be stopping off in Ireland to catch another concert before travelling to County Wicklow to see if we can find a few ancestors' graves. That promises to be quite an adventure in itself. I plan to work on a May Eve' poem while I'm there as well. Again, I expect May Day in Ireland to wind its way into every verse.

I trust to return to this forum upon my return and describe my journeys--but I probably won't hurry to post until after the end of the semester.

Until mid-May...