Public message (16) Exit Strategy
‘Social distancing’ is what experts advise, but ‘social nearness’ is what we aim for with our literary events. Passa Porta wants to keep connecting authors with their readers. Over the coming weeks, we will therefore be asking writers, from home and beyond, for a personal “Public Message”.
British poet Claudine Toutoungi grew up in Warwickshire. Besides her poetry, she writes for stage, screen and radio. Last month she would have been our writer in residence at Passa Porta. Instead, she kindly sent us this lovely "piece of advice" in the form of new short poem.
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Exit Strategy
Regard the copper-beech by evening sun
To find some height, some hope of what’s to come
And if the lassitude of elms confounds your heart
Take note of how the robin stops and starts and
Tries to trip you up with cavalcades of joy so sharp
You almost stagger; and if you stagger when
Mute darkness holds you tight, enlist the tender
Clatter of the morning birds to chase away the night.
Claudine Toutoungi, 8 May 2020