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Festival For Imbolc: Clarissa Wright
Online Event
Words about Clarissa’s work by Magical Women
Clarissa’s artworks and writings are inspired by the natural world as well as her intellect that has been weaved by her scientific works. She feels the shifting of the seasons keenly and makes creative observance in her practice. Here for Imbolc, she shares a poem ‘E-company’ that reflects on isolation and our dependence on technology – something many can relate to today, during national lockdowns imposed by the coronavirus pandemic. To illustrate the concept, she shares a photograph she has taken in the wild and journeys us into her textured ideas and fascinating insights from a ND led mind and tongue.
The tension between home and the natural environment is strong at this marker of the year. It is the time to ask for the blessings of Brigid, for the things we will nurture outside but also for the people that we nurture in our homes. At this time when we remain largely behind the thresholds of our houses, taking a moment to check in with our connections to place and to each other is an essential part of the cycle of growth we invest in throughout the turning of the year.
E-company
Images in your head squat against your skull
As you lay in bed, embracing your laptop
Cold electronics lay here to give you company
And speak with you like you’re somebody
Spark a conversation with your screen
Ask it about your lunch, or your dream
Let it delightfully distract, and entertain
Cleverly disguise the lurking disdain.
Awaken now, the phone has remembered
To alarm! And ring at 8am as required.
Unwrap from your warm embrace
With your lover made of wire and steel.
Disenchant yourself for a moment
So that ye can feel the blood in your veins
As you rise out of your slumber into the shower
And sacrifice this moment to the falling rains.
Walk into the kitchen and you ARE alone
But not until you turn on the radio-o
Murmuring mumbles and talk-talk-talk
Delude you to think that you are not-not-not…
Ah, look and see
Your phone, laptop, screen
Acts like your best friend
How many hours do you spend
In E – company?
Who spends with you more time
In your intimacy?
Has connection been confused with electricity?
About the Artist
Clarissa Wright, Editor-in-Chief of NatureVolve magazine, is a creative writer and artist with a background studying geology at BSc and MSc level at University of Aberdeen and University of Birmingham. She creates poems, stories and visual artwork inspired by the workings of nature and the human psyche.
Her artworks and writings are inspired by her curiosity and knowledge about the natural world, grounded with her geoscience studies and experience in scientific publishing. In addition to being an artist, photographer, digital designer, photographer and creative writer, she is a freelance science journalist and editor. Her deepest interests are in philosophy, psychology and the natural world.