Poetry of the Pandemic (New experiments)

Over the last year in particular, I have found myself deeply questioning how I as an artist engage people in issues that are important but deeply unsettling. How do I engage people around global issues like the pandemic and climate change when sea level rise and flooding is a real and everyday threat?

I believe that fear immobilises and we simply cannot afford overwhelm and inaction. I attended the Climate Change and Consciousness Summit in Findhorn, Scotland last year and found myself expressing the enormity of emotion through verse.

Over the last few months I have found myself being inspired by conversations and interactions with people around me. Perhaps the limited nature of connection has made them more poignant and potent. A man saying ‘the climates gone square around here’ formed itself into a poem. A Presentation sister in the convent in Lixnaw talked so beautifully about the time BC- Before Covid.

I have found myself writing more that ever and am currenlty exploring ways of incorporating these words into the fabric of my work through performance, film, drawing and animation. This page is a work in progress for 2021. So far I have written over 30 songs and poems and am exploring ways of collaborating and getting them out in the world. If you would like me to send you some private links please contact me on info@lisafingleton.com

TAKE HEED: WE NEED CULTURE FOR OUR SPIRITS

I wrote this poem for artists, musicians, singers, poets and writers who have found themselves out of work during the pandemic. We need to value artists and and remember that we need culture for our spirits now more than any other time.