Lyn McCredden – Lines through the Pandemic
‘Lines through the Pandemic: poetry as survival’ on 15th September was presented by Lyn McCredden in the DML lunchtime series, as she reflected on her Here and not poetry collection…and the pandemic.
As Stefan said: Thank you Lyn for this incredible poetry reading session today. If you have missed DML Lunchtime + today you can access Lyn’s: ‘Lines through the Pandemic: poetry as survival’, here: https://deakin.zoom.us/rec/share/1EyDSpJKxVUAw7nytrDrbRiVKX00eCxFSJnGXFd_mz8_VqLL-K6OWB6H-jrAUkqt.UUE-ZVocOKOV9aeh Passcode: 2Qg=?9HE
A short extract:
Haikus are composed of only 3 lines. … So, brief little bites. I found this a highly hospitable form last year, as the pandemic set in, and emotions were often violent, stabbing, confused. The following suites of Haikus, as you’ll see, range through the gamut of emotions during the pandemic – my emotions, but I expect many of you will share the anger, frustration, fear and yes, the search for some meaning, or at least composure, of 2020 and 2021.
These haiku, and a number of free verse poems, are from an unpublished collection, Here and Not.
From the first section “After the trumpet”, dedicated to Trump’s America, reproduced below with Lyn’s permission…
The globe, agog, views
an Empire eating its own,
Disney doing Death.
…
Borders built of tears,
of shadows, match-stick children
bricked in, motherless.
…
The last trumpet blares,
Don, and tweeting between balls
is a fake’s progress.
I found writing angry or satiric haikus was highly satisfying, a release valve last year, putting a structure and a momentary end point of sorts, around our agog-ness at what was happening.
But lament and meditation also became necessary.