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Full Description
This composite journal of the Covid Years is made up of the writings, artwork and photographs of twenty-seven contributors, whose ages at the time of writing or creating ranged from seven to over eighty. Most of them were in the UK but there are also contributions from Greece, Italy and the USA. The dated entries run from March 2020 to January 2023. Responses to the strange and disturbing years we have lived through range from the sorrow and anger of bereavement through calm reflections and gentle
humour to mockery and bitter satire directed at some of our political leaders. It includes memorial tributes to two contributors who died during these years, and it is dedicated to all the staff of the NHS for their extraordinary devotion under incomparable difficulties. Colenso Books will donate any profits from the sale of this book to charities which benefit the UK National Health Service and its staff.
Contents
CONTENTS
KEY TO CONTRIBUTORS
AGD Adrianna Gomez Dangremond
AH Anthony Hirst
AR Alice Rainey
AW Albie Waddell
BJ Brian Jagger
CLM Cecilia Loulakaki-Moore
DJ Di Jagger
EE Elizabeth Ellis
FH Frances Haste
FM Faysal Mikdadi
IFR Isabel Field Reid
ILM Irene Loulakaki-Moore
IW Ian Whitwham
JN Julian Nangle JP Jim Potts
LF Lily Flintoff
MA Mark Allen
MSP Maria Strani-Potts
NMP Nina-Maria Potts
OW Otis Waddell
PH Polly Haste
SB Suzie Black
SE Sarah Ekdawi
SFR Sue Field Reid
SW Susan Walpole
WL Wilf Lunn
WM William Merrett
Titles of images are in SMALL CAPITALS; where they are also in quotation marks, they are not titles as such, but words present within the image. Items marked with an asterisk in the period March 15th to May 20th, 2020 (and one item now placed later), were first published in Viral Verse: pandemic poems and images (June 2020). A long dash (———) in the sequence of dates indicates either that the item is undated or that its date is not part of the chronological sequence. Where the ages of under-eighteens are given, here and on the pages where their contributions appear, they are their ages at the time of writing or creating.
"MASS PYSCHOSIS — COVID KILLS!" (Photo, AH) front cover
Editor's Introduction xiii-xiv
A PROLOGUE FROM THE DISTANT PAST, 1666-1694
Haiku of isolation and sorrow (Matsuo Bashō) 1-4
A PROLOGUE FROM THE RECENT PAST, 2016
In memory of Thomas (MA) 5-8
A COMPOSITE JOURNAL IN POETRY, PROSE AND PICTURES
2020
——— SOCIAL DISTANCING (Painting, detail, SFR)* 10
March 15th. Report from Mondaino (SB) 11
——— SOCIAL DISTANCING (Painting, full image, SFR)* 11
March 22nd. London Euston to Manchester Piccadilly on the
Covid-19 Express (AH)* 12-13
March 23rd. The Great Field, Poundbury (JP)* 14
March 23rd. "COVID-19 . . . THE GREAT FIELD" (Photo, MSP)* 15
March 24th. In brief (AH)* 16
March 25th. Donald's "beautiful timeline" (AH)* 16
March 26th. Disjunction (AH)* 17
March 26th. Lockdown Snapshot (AR) 17
March 26th. Lockdown UK-style Week 1 (AH)* 18
March 28th. Covidity and other terms of reference (AH)* 19
March 31st. Number games or Well done, Mr President (AH)* 20-21
——— "DEFENSE ABSOLUE . . . DANGER DE MORT" (Photo, AH) 21
——— Life's a game (AH) 21
March 31st. The other Big C (JP) 22
April 7th. Age-at-death unknown (AH)* 23
April 7th. But is it war? (AH)* 24
April 9th. Let us pray — or preferably not (AH)* 24
April 10th. Silent Springs (AH)* 25
——— "SILENT SPRING BY RACHEL CARSON" (Book cover)* 25
April 10th. Panic Rap (IW) 26-27
April 12th. Wandering Widsith's Original Corona Virus Homesick
Blues (JP)* 28
——— "WIDSIÐ MAÐOLADE" (Text image)* 28
April 13th. Fourth week (SW)* 29
April 14th. Empty streets (AH)* 30
April 15th. ! If the Cancer doesn't get you the Corona Virus
will ! (IW) 31
April 15th. 999 call (JP)* 32
——— "PINK CHERRY BLOSSOM" (Photo, IFR)* 32
April 16th. Discharged! (JP) 33
April 17th. A Viral Vision (CLM, age 15) 34-35
(2020)
April 17th. "Mortality Support Unit" — "Temporary mortuary approved for Dorchester" (JP)* 36
——— "THE OLD RADIO STATION" (Photos, JP)* 37
April 18th. A respectful distance (AH)* 38
——— "HELP US KEEP HACKNEY PARKS OPEN" (Photo, AH)* 38
April 19th. SOCIALLY-DISTANCED BIRTHDAY QUIZ (Photo, IFR)* 39
April 19th-20th. in a time of corona virus (JN)* 40
April 20th. Apart (FM)* 41
April 21st. Politically speaking (AH)* 42
——— "NOW IN THE THICK OF IT" (Photo, AH) 43
April 23rd. Clap for our heroes (EE)* 44-45
——— "NHS — THANK GOD FOR IMMIGRANTS" (Photo, AH; poster,
Jeremy Deller) 45
April 28th. Anagram lures OK, Orbis? or Taking the P.M.
to pieces (AH)* 46-47
April 29th. Another Slough (BJ)* 48-49
May 2nd. A triumph for the minister on May Day (AH)* 50-52
May 3rd. CT scanners (JP)* 53
May 3rd. May 2020 (SW) 54
May 4th. Inaction and reaction are unequal and apposite (AH)* 55
May 4th. ISOLATED (Painting, SFR)* 56
May 5th. Lockdown on a summer's day (MA) 57
May 5th. Clumsy haiku (IW) 58
May 6th. Covid-Nineteen War Cabinet reconsidered (AH) 58
May 6th. Dorset Blues (JP)* 59
——— "CLAP FOR OUR CARERS" (Logo)* 59
May 7th. Clap-for-our-carers haiku (AH)* 59
——— IT'S NOT A MONSTER (Painting, black-and white, OW, age 7)* 60
——— Phone conversation (AH & OW)* 60
May 7th. HOME STUDIO (Text and photos, PH)* 60
——— Dodona Oracle (JP) 61
May 8th. Trees in recovery (AH) 61
May 8th. Passing (JN)* 62
May 8th. "NO HORIZON" (Photo, IFR)* 63
May 10th. Uncertain future (IFR & AH)* 63
——— "MORNING HAS BROKEN" (Hymn extract, words and music)* 64
(2020)
May 11th. Boris has spoken . . . (AH)* 64-65
——— "DANCE OF DEATH?" (Photo and text, AH) 65
May 13th. Conscious isolation (SW) 66-67
——— UNCONSCIOUS ISOLATION (Photo, JP) 67
May 13th. Who's for shearing? (DJ)* 68
May 14th. Bumble Boy Blue (BJ)* 69
——— "THIS FACILITY IS CLOSED" (Sign) 69
May 14th. I Miss You Guys (May 14th, WM, age 10)* 70-71
——— "THESE DAYS WILL PASS" (Photo, PH)* 71
May 14th. Convalescent (JP) 71
May 15th. Life (AW, age 10)* 72
May 15th. THE XMASk (Design, black-and-white, WL ; Photos, DJ;
Text, WL, DJ & AH)* 73
May 16th. Cruise ships in Weymouth bay (JP) 74-75
May 16th. Staff conference by Zoom (JP)* 75
——— "WIN YOUR WILDEST DREAMS" (Photo, JP)* 76
May 16th. From left to right (AH)* 76
May 17th. Song without words or Praise for the handling of the
crisis by UK and US governments (Anon.)* 77
May 17th. Sounds of Lockdown (IFR)* 78-79
May 19th. OUT OF THE WOODS? (Photo, AH)* 79
May 20th. THE SIGNS THEY ARE A CHANGIN' (Photo, AH)* 79
May 24th. Lockdown Lament (SW) 80
May 26th. Let's tell sad stories (FM) 81
May 26th. Stop Press - New Eye-testing prodedures (SE) 82-83
May 27th. Home Schooling — A Modern Qasidah (EE) 84
May 29th. Pontius Pilate and the Flight into Edict (AH) 85
May 29th. Loot'n, shoot'n, gun-toot'n Presidump or Twitter
Moderators take on Trump (AH) 86-87
——— Postscript to the above (AH) 87
May 29th. Comorbidity and Charon. (JP) 88
May 31st. two- and three-season tanka (AH) 89
May 31st. Age of Innocence (England in the 1960s) (AH) 90
——— "CORONA" (Photo: Still Time Collection) 90
June 1st. The perils of graphic design (AH) 91
June 1st. Boris addresses the nation (SE) 92-93
(2020)
—— "LET'S FUND THE NHS INSTEAD — VOTE LEAVE" 93
June 2nd. No safe place for angels (AH) 94-98
June 7th. We're in big trouble (AH) 99
——— "IF I'M THE SMARTEST GUY IN THE ROOM" (Design, AH) 99
——— "MORE THAN 2 METRES APART" (Photo, AH) 100
June 9th. Meditation on two added words (AH) 100-101
June 11th. A vision in early June (JP) 102
June 11th. Normal Life (AH) 102
June 13th. Domestic Problem (AH) 103
June 15th. Good, better, worst (AH) 104
June 17th. Covid exile (JP) 105
June 18th. The bench (a dream) (JP) 105
June 18th. Mind the Gap (Tell me lies about the NHS /
Corona) (IW) 106-107
June 20th. ON THE BEACH? (Photo, JP) 107
July 5th. The Cove House Inn, Portland (JP) 108
July 17th. Passenger Locator Form, Corfu Airport (JP) 109
July 17th. It's Not Just All in Your Head (AR) 110-111
July 25th. The Devil's Advocate and the Coronavirus
Pandemic (JP) 111
August 5th. Corfu opens up (JP) 112
August 11th. Corfu Friends (MSP) 113
September 3rd.. Consider the handshake (AGD) 114
Late September. Grim prospects — autumnal Monday (JP) 115
——— END-OF-SEASON DRACULA (Photo, JP)* 115
October 23rd. Generation or gender? (AH) 116
——— NATIONAL COVID MEMORIAL WALL (Photo 1, JP) 117
October 31st. BORIS JOHNSON ANNOUNCES A SECOND COVID
LOCKDOWN FOR ENGLAND (Still from BBC TV) 118
November 10th. Thankless Job? No Thanks! (AR) 118-119
November 12th. The Quick and the Dead (IW) 120-121
November 18th. Bread and circuses (AH) 121
Continued over . . .
2021
January 7th. Notification of Exceptional Movements of
Citizens (ILM) 122
——— NATIONAL COVID MEMORIAL WALL (Photos 2-3, JP) 123
January 20th. A jab in time saves lives (MA) 124-125
January 23rd. "I'VE HAD MY COVID VACCINATION" (Badge, NHS) 126
January 23rd. I've had my covid vaccination (AH) 126-127
February 1st. The sublime and the ridiculous are not so far
apart (AH) 128-129
——— Brave cowards (JP) 129
IN MEMORIAM FAYSAL MIKDADI
February 2nd. Spring Daffodils (FM) 130
——— from Nature's Questioning (Thomas Hardy) 131
——— "LIFE AND DEATH ARE NEIGHBOURS NIGH" (Photo, JP) 131
——— I loved you once (SW) 132-133
——— Our Story (SW) 133-134
——— The Perfect Day (SW) 134-135
——— This magical rain (JN) 136-137
——— I find myself in 2022 (SW) 137
———— o ————
February 6th. Are you thinking of dying? (AH) 138-139
February 10th. Be-Bop-a-Lula (AH) 140-141
February 24th. One day, two scenarios (for Maria) (JP) 142
——— JIM AND MARIA IN OXFORD (Photo, Anon.) 142
——— JIM AND MARIA IN PRAGUE (Photo, Anon.) 142
February 27th. The writing on the walls (AH) 143-148
March 6th. So much is over (In memoriam Jill Poppy) (JP) 148
March 7th. Trainee boxer (FH) 149
March 23rd. Remains (AR) 150
March 24th. My Covid-19 Reading Year (SW) 151-157
——— NATIONAL COVID MEMORIAL WALL (Photos 4-6, JP) 158-160
March 29th. Mass psychosis (AH) 161-164
——— Home Test for Corona Virus (a Greek Approach)
(Internet image of Greek text, JP; translation AH) 165
March-April. My Zoom Portraits (SFR) 166-167
(2021)
May 13th. from Linked-verse meditations (AH) 168
September 26th. I Spy (JP) 168
October 15th. ONS Covid-19 Infection Survey (JP) 169
October 13st. Recurrent Covid nightmare (virtual reality) (JP) 169
November 30th. Obstacles to mindfulness (JP) 170
2022
January 1st. Horror Scopes (JP) 170
——— Taken Short (JP) 170
January 4th. Unlocked Language (JP) 171
——— AFTER THE PARTY? (Photo JP) 171
April 28th. Holding on to letting go (LF, age 14) 172
April 30th. Eye on the Sparrow (AR) 172-173
——— NATIONAL COVID MEMORIAL WALL (Photos 7-8, JP) 174
THE SEA AND MARIA
(A MEMORIAL TRIBUTE TO MARIA STRANI-POTTS)
——— Prika (JP) 175
——— Corfu (JP) 175
——— Maria Swimming (JP) 176
——— A cultural mistake 176
Late May. Miroloi for Maria — a lament (JP) 177-178
——— The key (JP) 178
——— The Sea (Dinos Christianopoulis, translation JP) 179
——— Life on loan — life reclaimed (JP) 179
——— Extracts from the "Epilogue" to Maria's
autobiography 180-181
——— The Globe and the Plaque (JP) 182
——— MEMORIAL PLAQUE, POUNDBURY CEMETERY (Photo, JP) 182
——— Thoughts of Maria's daughter (on the first anniversary
of Maria's death) (NMP) 183-185
——— Cypresses (JP) 186
——— IN THE FIRST CEMETERY OF CORFU, GARITSA, CORFU
TOWN (Photo, JP) 186
——— GRAVE INSCRIPTION IN THE FIRST CEMETERY (Photo, JP) 186
(2022)
September 19th. In the left pocket of your leather jacket (LF, age 14) 187
October 15th. Counting (LF, age 14) 188
——— NATIONAL COVID MEMORIAL WALL (Photo 9, JP) 189
November 28th. "Release people!" (JP) 190
December 23rd. Covid at last (AH) 190-191
December 24th. Marx on surplus value: the case of dairy
farming (AH) 191-192
December 24th. Covid Day 2 (AH) 192-193
December 25th. Covid Day 3 (Xmas Day) (AH) 194-195
Decmber 28th. Covid Day 6 (AH) 195-196
2023
January 4th. Happy Birthday Mr C (AH) 197-198
January 7th. Covid Day 16 (AH) 198-199
——— "SUPPORT THE NHS" (Photo, AH) 199
January 18th. Nothing News To Say (AR) 200-201
———— o ————
Index to poems and images by contributor 203-204
IT'S NOT A MONSTER (Painting, in colour, OW, age 7) back cover
"ANTI COVID-19 MISTLETOE KISSING MASK" (Design, in
colour, WL) back cover
