In celebration of National Poetry Day which took place yesterday, Corinna Edwards-Colledge shares some of her lockdown poetry. This blog features 'School' and 'Green', but the full collection is also attached.
Corinna is a joint runner-up for a National Poetry Day competition run by Unison. She gave a live reading of one of her poems, 'Survival Mantra', yesterday and the selected poem can be read below:
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When the first lockdown hit in March 2020, I, like millions of others, felt a profound sense of disorientation and anxiety. One thing that helped me, was making the commitment to write a poem a day for the first two weeks of lockdown. They document the sadness and confusion I felt, but also the undeniable hope that we would come through it.
It doesn't surprise me that more and more people have been turning to writing poetry during the pandemic, or that they have been buying more! A poem is a story, feeling or experience expressed in a concise and emotionally authentic way. They can help us process our feelings, express solidarity, anger or love, and our creativity.
I have carried on writing poems, and have even started attending a great online poetry group. The tutor, Paul Lyalls, shared these imaginative ideas of what a poem is: "WHAT is a poem - Easy peasey hard work - Emotions surprised - A word that doubles back on itself - Delicate brush strokes on a small canvas - a police line-up of words but not the usual suspects - A perspective that's not landscape or portrait - A field of snow punctuated by crows - Discuss...."
How would you define a poem?
I hope you enjoy the collection. Do visit my website (https://www.corinnaedwards-colledge.co.uk) and Facebook page ( https://facebook.com/corinnauthor) for more about my writing, including novels, short stories and audio books.
Day 1: School
Children still play, their voices fall then rise.
I open up my window, see bright shapes,
dart and dodge in Lowry playgrounds tiny sized.
The sound haunts, hurts, I feel the sadness ache,
the day is coming soon, no more surprise.
A silence falling on the tarmac and the brick,
suspending of the place that makes kids wise.
What next for them, days, weeks, months, no-one knows.
Gates shut, swings still, desks go grey with dust.
This is the time of ending, things that close.
This is the time of duty and of must.
Small faces behind every door, snotty nosed,
sniffing out normality with childish lust.
This is uncharted land, they dip their toes…
Day 14: Green
Although I knew green was inevitable
It has still caught me off guard with its beauty.
Acid sharp with life, exploding, erupting
From earth sweet with rain, and slender branches
That hide their potential behind pale bark.
Bottle green is refreshed and glossy new
Like the delicate skin over an old wound.
The spring green softens, turns the jagged trees
Into a line of lace against the low sun.
Our garden’s horizons are gentler now,
As other walls harden and close in.
The burden of proof is in the buds opening,
The answer to every question is green.
If you would like to find out more about Corinna, please visit her website: https://www.corinnaedwards-colledge.co.uk/home