24 June, 2005

I am on the other side of a glass.
I am insensible.
I am set upon this chair.
This pen is in my hand,
resting against the space between its barrel and my skin.

My window is a television.
It is a stage, it is a set,
the world is a scene that I watch,
and I wonder where the exit is.
If I could step through it, I could touch things
with double-thick skin.

The Office Meeting

17 June, 2005

I am wound up
I am coiled
I am a shrew in boiled wool
The seconds slip clumsily
over knots in the string
If I were snakes, our tails would be tied

I am a rambunctious child in a fitted vest
and square-toed heels

11 June, 2005

the sound is shallow water over small stones
it's poplar trees with leaves
silver and green
silver and green
flipping from one side to the other
their cadence is a deceit
if you're not looking

1 June, 2005

Nom de plume: Schmutzie
Location: Canada
Birth year: 1972
Interests: writing, reading, photography, art, weblog design, autodidactism


Schmutzie is, as noted, my nom de plume for schmoetry, which I started in June 2005. There are a number of reasons for my maintaining anonymity at this point, most of which refer to my fear of coming out as my true name online.

I have been writing off and on since I was seven years old. My grade four teacher, Mrs. Martin, gave us an assignment to write a four-page short story. After school, I immediately started writing, losing myself in a fantastical tale about fruit-induced time travel. Fifteen pages emerged, and I had never felt more accomplished, free, realized.

Since then, I have kept journals and written poetry, short stories, and good chunks of two novels; I have been published twice: once in a small newsletter and once in youth writing magazine; I have not submitted any writing for publication since I was eighteen; I have been keeping a weblog since 2003 that has gone a long way to make writing and I a comfortable fit again.

Feel free to send me an e-mail (schmutzie at gmail dot com) if you have anything constructive to say. And I do stress constructive. Say anything nasty, and I will schluck out your eyes with a spork. It's true.