'Whatever happens, laughter survives.
Whatever happens, birdsong survives.
Whatever happens, poetry survives.'
Today marks the fifth anniversary of the start of the Covid pandemic. There were events all over the UK to mark the anniversary. Click here to find out more.
We were entering uncertain times in March 2020. I was just a few days away from becoming very ill with the virus, but as writer Michael Rosen reminds us, in his haunting poem written for the anniversary, many lost their lives to Covid. Click here for his poem.
None of us could have predicted just how huge the pandemic would become, nor for how long its repercussions would last. Long Covid remains.
A degree of uncertainty still exists today. We're no longer battling Covid, but who knows how events across the globe will pan out in the coming weeks and months? In a message to mark Commonwealth Day, King Charles is to call for unity and building bridges in what he describes as "these uncertain
times" of international tension.
Uncertainty is stressful and unsettling, so it's comforting to remind ourselves of those things that remain stable and predictable. This spring, daffodils will bloom, lambs will be born, leaves will begin to appear on trees, the sun will continue to rise each morning and my baby grandson will chuckle when he sees me again.
It was good to see poet Mark Douglas (above) out in sunshine of Hebden Bridge this afternoon, offering his 'four-minute' poems to visitors. As fellow poet Ian McMillan reminds us this week, poetry is one of the things that we can rely upon to survive these uncertain times.
Writing prompts:
- Set a timer for six minutes and write about your experience of the Covid pandemic.
- Do you think we live in uncertain times? Write about how you feel about what is happening globally right now.
- Apart from laughter, birdsong and poetry, what do you think will survive, whatever happens? Make a list.
- Set your timer for four minutes and write a poem about Spring.
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