What did you do in the lockdown, Mother? by Sandra Horn
So here we are almost three months into lockdown. Strange times. Conspiracy theories abound. It’s 5G, Bill Gates, big Pharma, some other kind of plot I can’t be bothered with, it’s not a virus, etc. I’ve got my head well down, sieving compost, planting beans and tomatoes, re-potting lilies and begonias, baking far too much. Hauled my sewing machine out to make masks, cut out the fabric, that’s as far as it’s got. I lose track of time. Every week, we have choir via Zoom and wear something silly. It’s an hour of delightful companionship which always leaves me feeling peculiarly flat when it’s over. Writers have also been meeting via Zoom, but this week, weather and the new restrictions permitting, we plan to meet in my garden at suitable distances from each other – just about possible with five of us. I’m taking an online course on poetic forms, put on by the excellent Live Canon team, which has meant getting to grips with sonnets (Petrarchean and Shakespearean) terza rima, se...