never knowingly without a pen
Our household of four is gathering its belongings together to make new plans in the Covid19 world. We can't really say post-covid yet, can we, since the virus is still circulating? I am writing less poetry and more prose, writing and typing, one word at at a time. As I loop ink around printed out… Continue reading August Postcards
Whichever way you look at it, lockdown is coming to an end in England, and gradually elsewhere in the UK, too. Non-essential shops are open, churches are open for quiet prayer, public transport is running, roads are much, much busier, businesses are opening up although everyone is expected to keep two metres apart and wear… Continue reading Once upon a lockdown
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… Continue reading I have forgotten your fingertips
Since lockdown started, and both of my children were sent home from their universities, which I wrote about here, I've had less time on my own in the house and less time to focus on my creative projects. When I wake up each morning, the first thing I do is make a mental audit of… Continue reading Still here in June
Very little to write about this week. Where I live, in West Wiltshire, there is a vague sense that something is about to change, possibly because of the government's new slogan (Stay Alert!) and ahead of Boris Johnson's broadcast to the nation tonight. We've noticed more cars on the road and there seem to be… Continue reading Lockdown Week 7: Quiet and Slow
It's one month since we started lockdown in the UK and about six weeks since I wrote my first blog post about this time of the Covid-19 pandemic. People talk about not knowing what day it is, about time passing slowly, or quickly, or both; one day merging into the next, sleep patterns disrupted, routines… Continue reading Corona Diary: One month in
I'm thinking about new things happening during lockdown and one thing is unexpected subjects turning up in conversation now that we're spending more time at home and, for some of us, more time than usual with the same group of people. I'm here in Wiltshire with Andrew, my husband, and our two adult children who've… Continue reading Lockdown Conversations
Now that both of our university student children have come to live at home again during the Covid-19 crisis, I've given up my writing room (our middle reception room) to my daughter, currently revising for her final exams. I've decamped to the breakfast room, the room directly next to our kitchen, and I sometimes sit… Continue reading Writing while cooking
The best thing about the street I live in, as well as many wonderful neighbours, are the plane trees that line both sides of the road. They are planted in the road so they can make parking a bit awkward but they are always changing and beautiful, and they bring birds to the neighbourhood which… Continue reading My Street
Last week started off gloomily with instructions from my local police force - and other police forces - that the UK lockdown meant people weren't allowed to drive even a short distance to find open space to exercise. The thought that I'd be breaking the law if I drove somewhere nearby to stomp through woods… Continue reading Corona Diary: Lockdown Continues
Josephine Corcoran 