This is the first creative piece I’ve made for my Time to Write commission from Paper Nations which I wrote about in a previous post. Paper Nations have asked for creative responses to ‘isolation’.
I’ve used text from The Guardian newspaper and found natural materials from my garden.
I hope the text of the poem is clear in the image. I’ve included it below:
I have forgotten your fingertips
the wonders
the joy
I’m stranded online
when day arrives
O
I am missing your skin
In the lockdown, making collages has suited my frame of mind – which has been in a distracted state for much of the time, as for many people – and I’ve found the process of assembling these word and image pieces absorbing and satisfying. I hope readers will find something to relate to in ‘I have forgotten your fingertips’. In writing it, I’ve been influenced by overheard and seen online comments from people living alone; also my two young adult children who’ve had to leave their independent student lives and return home because of the pandemic.
Thank you to Paper Nations for their support and thank you for reading.
Josephine Corcoran 
This resonates a lot from the point of view of having a hug from family. I live on my own and I last saw them at Christmas. Restrictions are easing here and more so from the 21st. And do I dare catch the train?!
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Thanks for saying so, Ann. I hope you see your family soon. I am feeling more confident about public transport now but I will certainly wear a face covering, possibly gloves as well, and take hand sanitiser – as well as extra hand washing. And I’d try to travel at a less busy time, if possible.
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That’s lovely Josephine. The message is very clear and resonant. I also love how the process you describe enables a reconnection with nature, yourself and us from the lockdown state of distraction. Beautiful.
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Thanks so much for your lovely comment, John. I’ve found it intensely calming to give my attention to work like this. I recommend doing it! Hope all is well with you xx
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O, I love it, especially the ‘O’!
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O thank you Ginny! 🌻🌷🌻🌷
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Oh the melancholy of isolation, lovely writing
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Thank you! 🌷
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This is very lovely. It sums up what so many are feeling.
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Thank you very much! Such a strange time 🍃🌾🌻
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[…] grateful for a small commission from Paper Nations to write about isolation. I’ve submitted one poem collage to them – actually to a writing project within Paper Nations called The Great Margin […]
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This is really beautiful to see. ❤
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Thank you! 🌻🌷🌻🌷
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[…] sequence. I shared the first of these pieces on this blog, as well as a standalone collage called ‘I have forgotten your fingertips’ which I also made for the Paper Nations commission. Below are all the compositions I’ve made […]
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