since there is no logical parallel to what the world is experiencing, we have to turn to the poets to try and make sense of this. All of this. God commands this shelter from pain perhaps; this metaphoric proposition that not only occupies our grief but rolls back the stone of uncertainty if the angels are too busy.....dana
Posted 3 Years Ago
1 of 1 people found this review constructive.
3 Years Ago
Thank you Dana for sharing your thoughts. A welcome visit from you. All the best.
Chr.. read moreThank you Dana for sharing your thoughts. A welcome visit from you. All the best.
Covid's got a hell of an awful lot to answer for .. and sadly, it aint over, is it .. Never a Statistic within the context outlined in your authors note is not only a fitting title and sentiment .. but it ought to be a warning that things can develop from nothing and swiftly get out of hand .. there is never a time for complacency and bloody hell, where has that time gone .. A necessary and poignant reminder that life is a lottery and Covid amongst many other opportunistic and predatory virus's for example are never that far away .. Neville
Posted 5 Months Ago
5 Months Ago
Thank you Neville. So many family’s took losses. My sis had to deal with Stuart first and our mum .. read moreThank you Neville. So many family’s took losses. My sis had to deal with Stuart first and our mum exactly a year later. She has an inner resilience though, that is rare.
Wow, Chris, so sorrowful, and yet the line “we are rocked though we don’t roll” brings in a little spot of resilience. I’m sorry to hear about your brother-in-law.
This poem is "moving". Loss is real - Pain is real. What one does about it is up to oneself.
"we are numbed by the speed
by sheer greed of a callous taker"
This lines speaks loads and volumes.
Posted 3 Years Ago
1 of 1 people found this review constructive.
3 Years Ago
Thank you Diamond. Written when my brother in law died in hospital from covid. Known him since I was.. read moreThank you Diamond. Written when my brother in law died in hospital from covid. Known him since I was 18. Terrible loss for my sister, my nephews and the whole family. Taken too soon, but we are united in the grief that millions of others have suffered world wide.
3 Years Ago
I understand. Staying "united" is key to all healing and strength. Much Love, light and healing your.. read moreI understand. Staying "united" is key to all healing and strength. Much Love, light and healing your way.
What a journey this poem took me on. It nearly had a rap song vibe, like an artist making a commentary on the drama with statistics / death / Covid. I like the anthem-like title, which shows empathy with those we lost due to Covid, but for us, who are still alive, we don't have to succumb (emotionally) to the fear that statistics cause. We are more than a number. We don't have to submit to the stereotypical power of what a number seems to suggest.....powerful writing!
Posted 3 Years Ago
1 of 1 people found this review constructive.
3 Years Ago
Many thanks for your visit and your thoughts. Always good to hear.
since there is no logical parallel to what the world is experiencing, we have to turn to the poets to try and make sense of this. All of this. God commands this shelter from pain perhaps; this metaphoric proposition that not only occupies our grief but rolls back the stone of uncertainty if the angels are too busy.....dana
Posted 3 Years Ago
1 of 1 people found this review constructive.
3 Years Ago
Thank you Dana for sharing your thoughts. A welcome visit from you. All the best.
Chr.. read moreThank you Dana for sharing your thoughts. A welcome visit from you. All the best.
This is heartfelt and heartachingly beautiful. Such perfectly penned lines that will sound familiar to anyone who is grieving... "grief is lost tomorrow's"
I was drawn to the title due to my job as an analyst.
I'm not a statistician .. my mind works better with patterns and words than it does with numbers. Since March I've been working on the Covid response for a local authority in an area with high cases. Never a statistic though, never just a number .. not a day goes by when my team don't mention the personal cost .. brought home now and then by tragic pictures of frontline colleagues who have died. Never a statistic, always a loved one.
Thank you for sharing and writing such engaging and important poetry Christine .
Posted 3 Years Ago
1 of 1 people found this review constructive.
3 Years Ago
I am really touched by this lovely review Helen. Thank you so much.
Sorry for you and yours loss Chris,
We go through life as marks on a start sheet, an employee, NI number, a tick in a Y/N box and oh so many more too dreary to contemplate, but we are all a thousand things and more to so many we have know...brother in law, partner, parent, child, friend, colleague, assistant, teacher and so much more, yet even in death they still try to wrap us in their red tape and beaurock... Byoorok.... Bloody numbers!
Time of death, date of birth and death separated only by a - on a headstone, that would take a library of books to even scratch the surface of who that person is to even one of those they knew.
Posted 3 Years Ago
1 of 1 people found this review constructive.
3 Years Ago
Thank you Lorry. Each day we get the drum roll of the numbers of people who have died the day before.. read moreThank you Lorry. Each day we get the drum roll of the numbers of people who have died the day before from covid. The numbers are shocking and we need to remind ourselves that each one of those lost lives was far greater than a small statistic. The loss of my sister's husband this week, just emphasised those feelings. As I wrote this I was able to remember all he meant to my sister and our family. She had been with him since she was 17, and I knew him as far back as me at 19 years old. There are so many, many lovely memories. This is the second attempt at responding to you. This site is a nightmare at the moment.
Chris
3 Years Ago
Every one a story to so many can never be just a start. Uk will become 5th country to pass hundred t.. read moreEvery one a story to so many can never be just a start. Uk will become 5th country to pass hundred thousand deaths in next day or so and only way I can comprehend that is to think of where I used to live,. Not the town, but the entire region is around 90,000 people, so it's like picturing everyone I used to see wherever I went in day to day life and picturing it now empty... Or three of where I live now (again, region not town) disappearing. Now that is a scary thought.
Ad all the people who mourn someone and your mind will melt at the thought.
Remember govt saying it could be as high as 20,000 deaths and trump saying no way it would be 100 to 200,000....bet they wish they had shut up now.
This is the most raucous powerful poem I've ever seen you write! Wow! I can feel you kinda raging out, in your subdued & slightly understated way. You show your family's private anguish alongside the bigger picture of pandemic slaughter & this amplifies your whole message to a deafening roar. I'm so sorry this damn thing has hit so close to home for all of you (((HUGS))) Fondly, Margie
First, my heartfelt condolences Chris for the loss of your brother-in-law; such a sad thing and something that so many families are enduring at this time.
It is no real consolation, but there will be summers to come; but it is going to be one hell of a fight before this monster is finally slain. As for the deniers, (and I personally know more than one such idiot,) they are so very wrong both scientifically and morally.
Beccy.
Posted 3 Years Ago
3 Years Ago
Thank you for your condolences and your visit Beccy. You know it is the deniers who concern me most... read moreThank you for your condolences and your visit Beccy. You know it is the deniers who concern me most. What planet are they living on?
Albert, my paternal grandfather introduced me to Tennyson when I was nine. I have loved poetry ever since but did not attempt writing a single piece until I was 40. It's never too late to try somethin.. more..