Claire Lacey

On November 4 2020 I had the opportunity to present my work on poetry and brain injury at a virtual conference at the University of Waikato. Here's the video evidence:

I'm very excited to have new poems included in the latest issues of Landfall and 1964 .  I am grateful to be in these amazing journals next to so many writers and artists I admire, and it gives me a real thrill to be in print in Aotearoa New Zealand based journals. Does this mean I am officially a local poet now??? 

Erin Mouré's poem "What, me, guard sheep?" from Sheep's Vigil by a Fervent Person  is my favourite poem. I know I wrote about it several times before back when this was a blog I kept regularly. I have been spending a lot of time with sheep during the Covid-19 lockdown, since I am lucky enough to live in a house with a paddock out back. I have taken to visiting the sheep daily and, often, recite lines of Mouré to them. So when I wanted to make a video for the Octagon Poetry Collective's virtual reading series, it seemed obvious that I needed to include the sheep. I wrote a poem about a lot of things, but with Bossy, the cuddliest ewe, and Lambikins who comes galloping over for pets, in mind. Of course, when it came time to film, the four white sheep were in an unreachable corner down a steep hill. But Cassius the Grumpy Grey Ram came to see what I was doing, and so he features in the video where I talk about the sweet ewes. What a good sport. He isn't always,

Rob McLennan asked me to contribute to his ongoing series "On Writing." I wrote about pain, process, my first book, my current project, & being publicly political. Check it out:  http://ottawapoetry.blogspot.com/2020/03/on-writing-171-claire-lacey.html

With cancellations of live events, I have made some videos of recent poems I have produced as part of my PhD project which uses poetry to explore brain injury. In the first video I give a character to the brain structure of the amygdala, which is involved in both fear and pleasure responses. In the second, I swaddle myself in a blanket to read about brain injuries and moths.

The Mapping Issue of Dandelion Magazine is something special. It doesn't currently exist online, but I believe it should. It is a thematic issue that includes poetry, prose, visual work, and originally had an audio CD accompaniment.