Urban Miscellanea
2020-2022, 2025
Urban Miscellanea is an experimental multimedia anthology that celebrates creativity situated within the urban.
2020/21: States of Apprehension
2021/22: Urban emergency / urban rhythms
2025: Archiving
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Abigail Hill
2020/21
Quarantine Garden
Poetry
Full poem:
Quarantine Garden
As the skeletons of past traditions fell around us,
Our own private garden flourished.
When isolation saved others,
Our sense of togetherness grew.
Distance is the new rule to closeness,
With nettles growing between the cracks, separating providence.
Foresight now a shattered phenomenon,
As suspended warmth prevents our frost from thawing.
Previous connections now shields interlaced with guilt,
As we eagerly await the season where beauty blooms.
Fear has separated the rest,
But our new life becomes further intertwined.
Connections with nature are strengthened,
despite their presence having been there all along.
Individual grief has become a collective numeric,
Yet, our natural growth has its own qualities.
Current physical change imprints on future memories,
as seeds are planted in the middle of an artificial winter.
A pattern of uncertainty is becoming familiar,
with our four sides of containment running parallels.
Visual displays are utilised as tools to create calm,
But no match for a chaotic entanglement.
Sparse experiences of fresh air foster deep thinking,
reflection of strategies for our journey to freedom.
Authorisation is permitted to reflect upon growth,
Despite the difficulty of interpreting a swarm of facts.
Awaited reunions don’t reveal a path back to normality.
A choice has to be made whether to be ruled by chance.
We all pick a rose,
creating the possibility of being punctured by a thorn.