This poem has an interesting history. It eventually became the poem used in Yearning, a creative covid response by Yum Stuido, commissioned by City of Ballarat.
The initial discussions between filmmaker Erin McCusky and myself in response to the brief brought up themes of longing, community and hope.
The commission asked the question “what kind of city are we today, and what kind of city do we want to be tomorrow?” and the brief required us to capture a sense of the moment of our City under the first lockdown.
I began the writing process by using my Pandemic Poem #2 Yarning, as a launching off point. I also needed to weave in imagery from Erin’s AV collection, which included the sun/corona, weaving/storytelling, and time/clocks/numbers/coding/technology.
Head over the the portfolio for more info on the final video, which features my voice reading the poem.
Yearning
This time
It’s brighter
Our fingers interlocked
To block the flare
Weaving
Stories and images being crafted and wrapped
Like presents delivered to our future
Stitching of yarns
Switching of screens
Coding
We are ones and zeroes
One zero ones
And threes, fives, sevens, nines
We are odd
Scanning the horizon for a more stable connection
Waving our arms in repetitions
But not drowning
Glimpsing our reflections
We hold our breath underwater for slightly longer than last time
Forced introspection marks us
Like looking straight into the sun
Learning
Making a home in a hall of mirrors
Our voices echo with the beat of our hopeful hearts
Reverb
Rebound
Marking time
Anticipating the resolve of the beautiful, uncomfortable, shimmering cadence
Burning
Home fires light up our front doorsteps ready to receive
The warmth of the sun
Yearning
Dreams like birds
Wheeling in the unexpectedly clear sky