Carol Ann Duffy and the Manchester
Writing School at Manchester Metropolitan University have brought together
poets to write poems about the pandemic or about the personal situation they
find themselves in right now.
The poems are presented in date order
and each includes a note about where it was written. The WRITE where we are NOW
website will be updated frequently throughout the pandemic with new
contributions.
Readers are welcome and encouraged to
share any of the poems, or their own creative responses, using #WWWAN or
tagging @McrWritingSchl on social media.
Carol Ann Duffy , the former poet
laureate hopes the project called ‘Write Where We Are Now’, “will provide an
opportunity for reflection and inspiration in these challenging times, as well
as creating a living record of what is happening as seen through our poets’
eyes and ears, in their gardens or garrets”.
I hope that these poems will provide
an opportunity for reflection and inspiration in these challenging times, as
well as creating a living record of what is happening as seen through our
poets’ eyes and ears.
'We need the voice of poetry in times
of change and world-grief. A poem only seeks to add to the world and now seems
the time to give.'
Each work reflects on the writer’s
own personal experiences of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak from all over
the world, supporting readers in reflecting on and articulating their own
feelings through the power of poetry. The poems are available to read and share
on the WRITE where we are NOW website.
Hands, Carol’s own poem, reflects on
how every Thursday, “we clap at the darkness”, and on how she can see the hands
of her absent daughter “when I put my head in my own”.
Duffy is spearheading the project
with the Manchester Writing School at Manchester Metropolitan University.
“We need the voice of poetry in times
of change and world-grief. A poem only seeks to add to the world and now seems
the time to give,” said Duffy, who is creative director of the writing school.
Professor Malcolm Press,
Vice-Chancellor of Manchester Metropolitan University, said: “I am delighted to
support this inspiring initiative by Carol Ann Duffy, one of the world’s
greatest and most admired poets.
WRITE where we are NOW brings
together some of the most creative minds of our generation in a growing online
anthology of poetry that reflects our journey through these challenging and
troubling times. I am sure that these outstanding poems will voice the
sentiments and feelings that many of us around the world will share. At the
same time, I am confident that these innovative and imaginative works will
inspire creativity and hope.”
Hands by Carol Ann Duffy:
We clap at the darkness.
I hearken for the sound
of my daughter’s small hands,
but she is miles away...
though I can see her hands
when I put my head in my own.
Andrew McMillan, winner of the 2015
Guardian First Book Award and inaugural 2019 Polari Prize, who is Senior
Lecturer in Creative Writing at Manchester Metropolitan University, has contributed.
Garden by Andrew McMillan:
in the beginning
the dead like the first flowers
for Adam were few
enough to name them
but soon they grew too many
the vast fields of them
WRITE where we are NOW brings
together some of the most creative minds of our generation in a growing online
anthology of poetry that reflects our journey through these challenging and
troubling times.
MoonInk are creating their own Tanka
Poetry Anthology 2020
Click here to learn how to write a
Tanka poem and submit your work for publication in the online Anthology. Send
your entries to submissions@moonink.co.uk
Visit us a www.moonink.co.uk to sign up for the free Poem of the Month and follow us on social media for more poems.
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