Description
Katherine Lockton – Editorial: Poetry and Lockdown Life
A beautiful thing happened one week into the first lockdown; my poetry submission pile doubled in size overnight as people who had never written before took pen to paper and tried to make sense of the new world they found themselves in. Sometime later, I read in an online article that poetry sales are up. I started to hope again.
There is no doubt in my mind that poetry is vital and not only not a luxury but something everyone should be able to access and create. Our poetry masterclasses held on Saturdays began because we wanted to open up the doors of the poetry world, making literature fun and accessible to anyone.
As we go into a new year, we will continue to look at how we can develop as an arts organization allowing us to create more opportunities for those wanting to enter the poetry world.Lockdown changed my writing as well as the goals I had for South Bank Poetry. I gave in and decided to embrace and write about topics I never would have before.
My hope for this double issue is that it reaches as many readers as possible, as well as showing those who doubt their ability to write, that anything is possible. So let’s start the next year as positively as we can. It has been a tough time and many have lost loved ones. We will never be the same again, but we can go on.
Katherine