“Moon, plum blossoms,
this, that,
and the day goes.”
– Issa
This is a time to grieve for a lost world. A time of uncertainty, unrest, tears on pillows and heavy hearts. A time of mourning for the carefree way in which we made plans, hugged friends, held hands and ate together. A time of yearning for loved ones, a time of sorrow for our silent streets and empty cafes.
This is a time of wondering about the future – how will we rebuild our lives?
I do not want to belittle the genuine fear and misery that so many people face in this surreal and awful time but I started my blog (a few years ago) to take readers for a stroll into my ordinary world. That world has changed irrevocably but it is still filled with ordinary, tiny moments (countless minute stitches in the tapestry of life) – cups of tea, jugs filled with autumn leaves, birds in the garden, trials and triumphs in the kitchen, phone conversations with aged relatives, precious friendships, books, poems, the smell of baking, family letters, my beloved lake and wetlands.
These things and so many more are still here to bring hope and solace into an upside down world.
Welcome to haphazard fragments from this new chapter in my story: Life in Isolation…
© Anita Patel, 2020
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Published by anitapatel
Anita Patel is a writer (and retired teacher) who has lived in Canberra since 1982. She is as Australian as a banana paddle pop and a pair of sandy thongs and she is also a part of the Asian diaspora. Her collections of poetry are: 'Petals Fall' published by Recent Work Press in 2022 (https://recentworkpress.com/product/petals-fall) and 'A Common Garment' published by Recent Work Press in 2019 (https://recentworkpress.com/product/a-common-garment/).
In 2019, she collaborated with acclaimed artist, Annie Franklin, to produce 'Heart Stitched' (a story - in paintings and poetry - of the quirky, unexpected and dazzling layers in the natural world). They received significant support from Nancy Sever (Nancy Sever Gallery). In 2022, their second book 'Grief and Beauty' (which arose from the 2019-20 bushfires) was published - once again with support from Nancy Sever.
She has had work published in the Canberra Times, in Conversations (Pandanus Press, ANU), in Block 9, Burley Journal, Cha: An Asian Literary Journal, Demos Journal, Mascara Literary Review, Not Very Quiet Journal, Cordite Poetry Review, Backstory Journal, Other Terrain Journal, Pink Cover Zine, FemAsia Magazine, Plumwood Mountain Journal, Eucalypt: a tanka journal and Print Issue 42 of The Blue Nib Journal. Her work is also included in the following anthologies: The Australian Poetry Anthology (Vol. 8), 'This Gift This Poem' (Puncher and Wattman) and 'What We Carry' (Recent Work Press). Her children’s poems are included in an anthology 'Pardon My Garden' (Harper Collins). Her poem “Women’s Talk” won the ACT Writers Centre Poetry Prize in 2004 and her poetry was selected for and published in Australian Book Review’s States of Poetry ACT, 2018.
She has performed her work at the Canberra Multicultural Festival, Poetry on the Move Festival, Noted Festival, Floriade Fringe Festival, In Other Words Festival (at Lost in Books, Fairfield), the Queensland Poetry Festival, the National Folk Festival, at Smith’s Alternative, at Word in Hand (Glebe) and La Mama Poetica.
Her reviews, “Found in Translation”, on the performances of four Japanese women poets and their translators at Poetry on the Move Festival, 2017 and “No More Silent Waiting”, on the anthology Autonomy edited by Kathy D’Arcy (2018) have been published by Not Very Quiet Journal. She was the guest editor for Issue 2 of Not Very Quiet Journal. View all posts by anitapatel
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