A few years ago I did an adult education course in writing. It was a very interesting class. We had all sorts of assignments and we had to read out our compositions. It was rather daunting at first and I felt quite shy and self-conscious about it. On the other hand it was very entertaining to hear the others in the class. One learned a lot about each of the 15 or so contributors. I enjoyed the class very much – it was so sociable and also we received good criticism and tips for improving our writing.

Our teacher was primarily interested in poetry, being a poet herself with several published works. I felt she wanted to turn each of us into poets but still we were allowed to go our own way, up to a point. I was particularly keen to work on my autobiography but she put me…

  Katerina ponders the world situation as I check my emails early in the morning

  stretching out in the early morning sun

Barely a year ago, I wrote an essay on Robert Frost’s poem “The Road Not Taken,” a classic and a long-time favorite. The main reason why this is one of those poems that people never shut up about is that it’s difficult – nearly impossible – to successfully conclude whether the speaker regrets choosing one path over the other or if he is glad about it. I believe it’s the latter – perhaps because I’m the type of person who sees a half full glass.

I’m happy to share sections from my essay and hope my thoughts on the poem might interest you.