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Preface to Special Edition, 2022
First published in April 2020, at the height of the first Coronavirus Lockdown, Poems from the Lockdown was an immediate, visceral response to a sudden, and frightening global pandemic, that saw everyone face-masked, isolating, working from home or furloughed; humanity hunkered down for safety and protection. Over fifteen million died, billions more suffered physically, and especially mentally: Covid-19 ravaged our population.
Two and a half years on, vaccines were found, the virus mutated to be less lethal, and humanity returned to a new kind of normal, a post-pandemic realisation that, at any moment, something could end our world. In this fight for our lives, human kindness flourished, people cared, sacrificed, and appreciated each other more – not universally it has to be said; power, manipulation, profiteering, and the baser instincts of humanity also took their advantage.
A new volume, Lockdown 2.022, was produced in September 2022 seeking to reflect on the newly emerging world, where are we now? Twelve poems from that volume have been added in a new chapter to the original volume; not to find closure on the pandemic, but more to define the era, in terms of global psychology and consciousness. Everything has changed: the Global Pandemic elicited a shared experience demonstrating humanity’s best efforts to care for its fellow humans in face of a global threat.
There are now ongoing public enquiries, the apportioning of responsibility (hopefully too much not blame), and accountability will be identified; an official history will be written: one of facts and figures, laws, actions and management; and lessons and contingencies developed for the future. Along this, I believe this special edition of Poems of the Lockdown, will convey the raw emotional and personal experiences; providing catharsis, love, and healing.
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