Freedom in Constraint is a sequence of formal poems focusing on the themes of isolation and social distancing and the wider issues and challenges to community and family arising out of the current Covid 19 pandemic.
“Heaven and Earth” is the seventh poem in the sequence. The form this time is Terza Rima and the poem was written very recently when temperatures began to drop and the season’s change became apparent. The cyclical nature of the passing year can often be reassuring, but in this strange year I’ve begun to feel a little unmoored from my usual comfortable havens. Once again, the film was made by my good friend Peter McCluskey and he also reads the poem. Over the course of the sequence you can get a sense of Pete’s ability to approach each new poem with ever more variety in his use of sound and visual image. Also, people are always at the heart of his films, which is as it should be.
We’re well on the way to completing the sequence now, which should run to around fifteen poems. I’m trying to use as many formal types of poetry as possible with the proviso that the form adds something to the theme in each case. I hope I’ve succeeded to some degree so far. Until the next time, enjoy the poems and stay safe!
16th October 2020
Freedom in Constraint is a sequence of formal poems responding to life during the Covid 19 crisis and is made with support from the Arts Council of Ireland / An Comhairle Éalíon’s Covid 19 Response Award.