YO! Here's a one-off special edition episode for ya, featuring some delightful chats I recently got to have as part of 'Neighbourhoods', a new event in Long Jetty that launched in June 2021.

Go check out @neighbourhoods_cc on Instagram if you haven't already!

As part of this epic creative smorgasboard I got to be part of a cool creative experiment. I sat in the back of a cafe for the morning and recorded live conversations with different creatives/photographers. I'm briefly resurrecting this podcast channel to share them with you. Listen in to hear my chats with:

Grace Picot

Coastal Incidental

Danielle Higgins

Reed Plummer

Tim Freer

Shout-out to Sharon Aldrick, who I also had a beautiful chat with on the morning, but due to some technical difficulties the recording of her chat was sadly lost. Go support her work, as well as all these other legends, and get behind your local artists of all stripes.

Big love also to Tim Boreham (go back and listen to that legend's episode of Poetic Beings), who was the driving force behind Neighbourhoods. And Central Coast Council who supported this event.

FRIENDS. This is the last episode of Poetic Beings....maybe not forever, but at least for a while.

I'm going to be giving more dedicated time and energy to Man;Kind poddy (so go over there if you want to keep hearing my voice) - all links at leadbystory.com.au/mankindpodcast.

But, THIS is a special episode to finish my season of 'poems for a pandemic'. My mate Dylan gets real and shares openly and vulnerably about his experience of the pandemic in relation to his mental health, as well as giving us a poem he wrote. Our conversation is a window into some of the challenges that many people were experiencing prior to COVID-19 - and maybe it could be a wake-up call to us, to look out for people in our context, who could use some connection.

Thanks so much for listening to Poetic Beings! I may not be recording any new episodes now, but there's a solid back-log there, so please share with your friends, family, English teachers, strange poet friends etc.

You can buy the Poetic Beings book here: https://www.willsmall.com.au/store/p4/poeticbeingsbook.html

I've been lucky enough to interview some incredible humans in recent years, but this one is pretty dang special. I recently connected with Sam Illingworth, who has a PhD in atmospheric physics, and a passion for connecting science and the arts. He makes a brilliant poddy called 'The Poetry of Science', and uses poetry to facilitate learning experiences for both scientists and non-scientists. I loved hearing Sam's thoughts on the valuable relationship science and poetry are able to have, and I'm sure you will also.

If you enjoy the Poetic Beings podcast, I'd love it if you would take 2 minutes to leave a rating/review on apple podcasts or share this episode with someone you think would dig it!

Huge gratitude to my Patreon community who generously support the creation of this show: www.patreon.com/willsmall

Search 'The Poetry of Science' to check out Sam's podcast, or connect with his work here: https://www.samillingworth.com/

My friend Rachael Williams joins me for another poem for the pandemic!

I also mention Uncontained Festival of the Podcast. You can check that out at:

leadbystory.com.au/uncontained

facebook.com/leadbystory

AND...Season 2 of Man;Kind podcast is launching this Friday, May 29th! Conversations about healthy manhood in the modern world.

Subscribe to that bad boy and help me spread the word.

https://www.leadbystory.com.au/mankindpodcast

Listening to this episode is pretty dang good decision, but brace yourself, Andrew's poem might take you to some deep places! I was blown away by what he shared here, after I asked him to write a poem for the times we're living in. It's a gift. You're welcome.

You can read all my poems for a pandemic here: https://www.willsmall.com.au/blog/poems-for-a-pandemic

Connect with Andrew here: https://www.instagram.com/andrewcoxpoetry/

Find out about unContained festival of the podcast here: https://www.facebook.com/events/1280466062163863/

More poems for a pandemic! In this episode I share two more I've written recently and then an interview with my good friend Roje Ndayambaje, who also wrote a poem for these times we are living in. You can see the words to Roje's poem below:

As we stand

static with fear in this confluence

our feet torn between the norm and the chaos

navigating reality with forlorn faces

let's walk in it courageously

though these unannounced storms have been placed upon us

causing our spines to fold in fear

and for some

to beg with the same palms that they pray with

but still

let's search for joy like Paul in jail

acknowledging our ego and nurturing compassion

in this solitude

we must solidify our connection

to self, to neighbour

becoming archaeologists of stories and excavating each other

intently

lifting up the weak and immersing the lonely with love

removing the stains on a darkened soul

this is the purpose we were made for

and these times a testament

the streets are filled with ghosts and memories

but there is hope in Italy, in Spain

homes have become sanctuaries

like they were intended

brothers bellowing salutations on balconies

this virus will not fracture us

though it seems we are fading

we will not languish

finding the holy in hell

hospitals have become chapels of silent prayers

and God hears

God hears, and he is in control

And maybe beneath this this torrent of uncertainty

There is a dormant silver lining

And maybe this is the only sabbath long enough in our lifetime

To correct and rebuild, to be still and let the earth breathe.

In this episode I share two 'poems for a pandemic' I've recently written, and I chat to my friend Marissa who also wrote one after I asked my poet friends to join me in writing these.

Below are the words to Marissa's poem:

The Hopeful Calm, Marissa Niven

~~~

Surreal.

Definition:

Having the qualities of surrealism

Example:

To live through a time you know history will look back on,

Whilst doing nothing noteworthy

And yet in doing so

Making history

This situation is surreal to me

You got people too scared to go into the streets,

While neighbours ignore fears and say cheers to breaking the rules,

You'll find no social distancing here

Shopping aisles turned to fight clubs,

City streets to forgotten histories,

Pharmacies look like crime scenes, taped up cause the visual makes it impossible to ignore the new boundaries

Maybe that's why there's a reminder on every screen...

News headlines never change,

Just the numbers do,

And it's easy to forget that each number is a name, and each name is a person, and each person is a story-

...a story with an unsatisfying end...

And still we have leaders who manage to pretend that things aren't so bad

And I wonder

Do they see the same news we do?

Do they see their people dropping in the streets?

Hear the pleas of their doctors to help them?

Or do they only care about who can buy the best publicity and make profit from tragedy?

And as is the way with Tragedy,

She brought her brother Rage

Angrily he searches for someone to blame for his sister's grief

But blame is a funny thing

For rage leads to blame, and blame leads to rage, and all too soon tragedy is born again anew,

And I fear for the people who those grieving will blame

A 2 year old stabbed in a parking lot can attest to that

Drowning in the pains of the world,

And the ignorance

And the grief

It's easy to believe that hope she has left us...

But ask Pandora what remained...

When the box is opened,

And the evils have been unleashed

Hope still stays.

A quiet but steady light to fight the fright of perpetual night

And in this way

We look past the noise of the world in panic

And find the hopeful calm

We find it in the music played from balconies in cities,

Closed down but never forgotten,

In wild eyes of nature as she sends her children to reclaim what we have borrowed,

In the sky's, clear for the first time in how many years,

In the smiles of children, reminders of innocence still safe from all of this

And with our quiet hopeful calm,

We wait for this to pass

For while this fear may be loud

It is hope who's music lasts.

My friend Olivia Wolfe was doing a semester of study abroad in Manchester - but due to COVID-19 she has returned home to Aus. During her quarantine period, I asked her to write a poem to share on this podcast. And man, did she deliver.

We had a chat about this moment we find ourselves in, the importance of creativity and of course, Olivia shared her wonderfully insightful and profound poem.

Amongst the enormous disruption of a global health pandemic...I wonder if we might learn something from the humble centipede?

Here's a thought and a poem for you today, where ever you are.

However you are experiencing this right now, I hope that you find wonder amidst the wounds and peace amidst the pain.

I was mowing the lawn (probably because we're self isolating at home and I got bored) and my mind was racing with creative thoughts. Which is kind of weird timing? But maybe not. Maybe we need to lean into our creativity as we process this strange time in history. Maybe as the well oiled machine of society is forced to a halt...we could recover some of our vulnerable humanity?

Here are a few thoughts I recorded - and a call to your inner creative. You have one. Whoever you are.

I'm planning to record more of these as this thing plays out. Poems, conversations and reflections for this unique time we are living through. If you're interested in some creativity amidst the chaos, come along for the ride.

Grace and peace to you.