May 18th, 2020Pandemic Poetry
GORDON Nightingale has used the downtime of COVID-19 to assemble his poetry into a book, Poems for the Pandemic.
“I began writing 18 months ago when I joined a Hepburn U3A program called The Writers’ Group managed by Jude Brown and Millie Gouldthorpe, with a membership of about 20 who would meet on a fortnightly basis at the famous Old Coach House in Daylesford.
“Each of us would try to produce a poem or a story based on a single word as decided at the previous meeting. The very first word I had to write roughly 500 words on was ‘gift’.
“The rules were fairly simple; anything goes as long as the word was in there somewhere. No critical comments were allowed. No adverse reactions or jeering was allowed. It was all good fun and most inspiring.
“Inspired to write as much as I could outside the Writers’ Group I began posting stories and poems on my Facebook page. Every ‘like’, ‘love’ or comment was encouragement to inspire the creative juices.
“A regular “liker” was Anne Milton. It was her suggestion that prompted putting the poems into a book. Poems for the Pandemic is the result. Her original suggestion was Poems in Isolation. The only reason I switched was for the alliteration affect.
“I do have ambitions to become a published author, having recently submitted one of the three full-length novels I have written. It may never happen but we do live in hope.”
For a PDF copy of the book, email knighttime.drafting@bigpond.com
* The Local has had a sneak preview, well worth a read!
