Writer of all sorts
(written Nov 2020)
2020 is a crust
that has formed over me
and muffles my mind in
a foggy shroud of rising numbers
numbed by tepid tea
and wine poured thick against injustice
and meagre human contact.
I long to share a silence
un-cushioned by a squinting screen
to slough this shushed skin of
semi-sleep
and pierce my body into freezing water fresh with
glass-sharp thoughts
and words that dart around like silver moonlit fish.
© Charlotte Oliver 2020
My poem ‘To be the Sea’ has been given a home in the beautiful Dream Catcher 42. Getting my contributor’s copies through the post certainly brightened up a(nother) dreary lockdown day.
Yay, my haiku got picked by gorgeous new nature writing journal, Spelt Magazine! Here it is…
I am delighted to discover that my poem, Packing my Sea, went live on One Hand Clapping at some point recently!
Read it here https://www.1handclapping.online/post/charlotte-oliver-a-poem
I am immensely grateful to the wonderful Not4uCollective for publishing one of my poems in their precious collection of words and images created during the pandemic, From Home. Thank you!
http://tinyurl.com/fromhomezine
It’s been another quiet month of lockdown but I did have a lovely commission from BBC Radio York to write a poem to celebrate their Make a Difference campaign which connects people who need help with the huge numbers of people offering help across North Yorkshire. The launch day involved a chat with the excellent Georgie Spanswick on the Breakfast Show as well as some lovely comments from friends and strangers. You can see it here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p08g4l2v