Claire Lacey

 I was asked to contribute a video for Brain Week by the Neurological Foundation of New Zealand. I appreciate the opportunity to chat about my work writing and thinking about concussion. This video is also hosted on the Otago Museum's Brain Week page  alongside some really fascinating talks about neurological research around Aotearoa New Zealand

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,...

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.

Check out this video of my poem Digital Dunedin commissioned for National Poetry Day hosted at the Dunedin Public Library. When Wikipedian at Large Mike Dickison paid a visit to Dunedin, he mentioned how integrated Wikipedia is in our daily lives. I took that sentiment and ran with it, creating a text that looks at how I use digital spaces including Wikipedia, Twitter, Pokemon Go, and Google Maps to navigate my physical surroundings, and that adds a layer to my environment that is both collectively generated and individually consumed. Online spaces are ambiguous and can be fraught with tension as they demand our attention, but they can also be connective and empowering. I hope this piece expresses some of that sentiment. I am so grateful to be in Dunedin studying at the University of Otago. The support of the Department of English and Linguistics, the UNESCO City of Literature Scholarship, and the mentorship of my supervisors Jacob Edmond, Ruth Napper, and Christine Jasoni mean so...