Dusty photographs on the shelf

It’s often about what we leave out, as much as what we put into poetry.

As a complementary method, to perhaps interviews and ethnographic study, poetry seeks to reveal the diversity of people, emphasising the complexities of lived experiences,  allowing voices to be heard, and “captur[ing] the essence of the how, the why, the what”  (Carroll, Dew,& Howden-Chapman, 2011. p.624).
I have been developing a poetry workshop for my research participants: thinking about time, the everyday, and women's lives. The following poem was created from an exercise I am developing as part of the workshop

Dusty photographs on the shelf

Why does time feel so different from one day to the next?
Stretching out ceaselessly,
Then disappearing,
so swiftly
Rose madder, moments and memories
Mislaid, yet persisting
Wondrous women
Harmonious
Stepping out in streets I do not know
Again
And again
Grandmother’s wedding ring, dusty photographs on the shelf,
and books, with pages curled from over use
Did you feed the dog today?
Wearing skirts to school,
And the hope of leaving them at home
Checking social media
For news updates
I hope it isn’t true
Community cohesion of similarity, and difference
Like Prussian, and cerulean blue
How do we know when our work is done?
The price of anything
Is the amount of life you exchange for it.
I’d love to be alone for days
With no demands.
Reading notes, and drinking tea
With no guilt of putting off the housework
You should be writing
I know!