This month’s poem ‘It was as if’ by Frank McMahon was written several months into the first lockdown, during the wonderful Spring weather.
Frank said: ‘Images and memories of hill-forts, (some in the Cotswolds) came to mind and informed the first few stanzas, alongside the growing feeling of uncertainty when encountering people we did not know.
‘The absence of ‘plane and traffic noise took me back to childhood and the sense of an uncluttered natural world, enhanced now by greater knowledge of its complexity and amplified by people discovering it and its benefits for the first time.
‘In a way, the poem was a consoling counterpoint to the fear and hardships being experienced by many at that time.’
The poem features in the anthology, Can you hear the People sing? published by Palewell Press. Palewell is also the publisher behind Frank’s first volume of poems, At the Storm’s Edge. They will be publishing his second volume, A Different Land, in June.
To read ‘It was as if’ click here, or on the Poem of the Month logo on our website.
Somewhere Else Writers Group 