never knowingly without a pen
I've written about my sequence 'Once Upon a Lockdown' before but this is the first time I've been able to post all nine pieces together. I began this writing as a sequence of diary entries/prose poems/poems and then reworked each section into a collage using natural materials from my garden, photos from my camera roll… Continue reading Sequence of nine prose poems/collages
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
Paper Nations is an arts organisation which commissions writers throughout the South West of England to create new work. Earlier this year, they ran a scheme called 'Time to Write' and invited writers who face particular barriers (time, money, location, opportunity) to apply for up to £1,000 to enable them to develop a writing project.… Continue reading Paper Nations: Time to Write
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
I've started reading and writing prose again after ten years of mostly reading and writing poetry. One big thing I've noticed, from a writing perspective, is that when I share my work with other people, they assume that my poetry is personal, written from my own experience, but they assume my prose is fictional. It… Continue reading Poetry and Prose
While I'm busy not going anywhere, below my feet, down on the ground, there there are insects journeying through the weedy jungle of our garden, in and among the weeds sprouting up on the patio. What I call 'weeds' are really wildflowers, pollen-givers, insect-enablers. Last year, we left our lawn unmowed until August and loved… Continue reading Look Down
Josephine Corcoran 