Lockdown 'Photo Challenge' Poetry: List of Contributors

PHOTO-CHALLENGE CREATOR

 Caroline Gill @coastcard

GUEST POET

 Dr Tim Gardiner @TimGardiner3

GUEST PHOTOGRAPHER  

Vicky Quantrill (Challenge 5: Photographs of Glow-worms)

POETS (blue indicates a livelink)

Rosemary Appleton (England) @BluestockingBks
Kieron P. Baird (Scotland)
Michaela Burns (Scotland) @LifeThroughPoem

Christina Chin (Malaysia) @Christina_haiku

Jessica Dawson (Canada) @live_the_light
Peter Donnelly (England) @pj_donnelly
Sarah James (England) @Sarah_James
Jeffrey Kemp (Scotland)
Neil Leadbeater (Scotland)
Kathy Miles (Wales) @Kathym974
Liz Sankey (England)
Martin Stepek (Scotland)
Marion Walker (England)
Irene Watson (Scotland) @IreneWatsonArt
Kay D. Weeks (USA)
Juliet Wilson (Scotland) @craftygreenpoet
Lynn Woollacott (England)

 'GLOW' PHOTO CHALLENGE POEMS

[1] 'Peacock Butterflies' here
[2] 'Wash' here
[3] 'Puffin' here
[4] 'North Pole Sign' here
[5] 'Glow-worm' here

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A WORD FROM CAROLINE

The emergence of Covid-19 brought with it a lot of fear and uncertainty. Many people responded in extraordinarily wonderful ways, particularly those who became known as key workers. My choice of title for this project, 'The Glow of Emerald Light' came via William Hazlitt, and while he applied the 'emerald light' to glow-worms and their 'palaces', I also had in the back of my mind those green lights that you sometimes see on doctors' vehicles when they are attending an emergency call (our key workers, again).

Artists were quick to respond to the pandemic in all manner of ways. I was confined to house and garden for weeks as a 'government-shielded' person, and felt I wanted to tap into the surge of creativity by offering a small platform for poetry written in response to (what I felt were largely) uplifting photographs. The first Photo Challenge of 5-line poems, created as part of this lockdown poetry initiative, was launched on International Dylan Thomas Day (@DyddDylanDay), 14 May 2020. It was my hope that the five Photo Challenges would attract a mix of seasoned poets with publications to their name and others who were not so familiar with the poetry world.

You may find it helpful to use the Blog Archive with its small grey arrows (on the right of my screen) to help you navigate the site. Every page should have a 'Return to home' link, highlighted in green. Sincere thanks are due to Dr Tim Gardiner, poet, editor and entomologist with specialist knowledge of glow-worms. Tim's sister, Vicky Quantrill, graciously supplied recent photographs of a glow-worm by day and by night. Special thanks go to the poets listed above. I hope you will click on the 'GLOW' Photo Challenge links and enjoy their work.  

Caroline Gill

@coastcard