{"id":12023,"date":"2020-10-03T11:43:48","date_gmt":"2020-10-03T11:43:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sceptical.scot\/staging\/?p=12023"},"modified":"2026-04-18T19:34:31","modified_gmt":"2026-04-18T19:34:31","slug":"love-and-light-poetry-and-prose-in-the-time-of-coronavirus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sceptical.scot\/staging\/2020\/10\/love-and-light-poetry-and-prose-in-the-time-of-coronavirus\/","title":{"rendered":"Love and light: poetry and prose in the time of coronavirus"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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I still believe my eyes

can hold a solar system, catch all the lights<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

In so many ways, this year has been an eye opener.  But how good to look outwards and upwards again with poets. The theme for #NationalPoetryDay 2020 is Vision and that encompasses a world of feeling.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Confession. I\u2019ve been finding it hard to see the light these last few weeks. In search of inspiration \u2013 as so often before \u2013 I turn to the Scottish Poetry Library and discover Eye Chart by Nuala Watt<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n

That leads to a heart-lifting trip of chance discoveries on and off the trail of National Poetry Day.  Chance can indeed be a fine thing and so it shapes this month\u2019s selection of eye-opening poetry to share with you.<\/p>\n

Eye Chart \u2013 Nuala Watt<\/h3>\n

He says the map<\/em>
marks how far vision goes. <\/em><\/p>\n

Nuala Watt beguiles the eye and ear. The written poem is cleverly designed like the Snellen eye chart many of us recognise from trips to the optician. The poet tracks a journey through shrinking symbols to arrive at a paradox.<\/p>\n

In low mood, I find the last line \u2018where letters are illegible as stars\u2019 mysteriously uplifting.  Partly because in reading it my mind\u2019s eye, unbidden, conjures up a glittering map of the night sky. Partly because it\u2019s a shared experience.<\/p>\n

The youthful, Glasgow-born and bred, Nuala Watt has been partially sighted all her life as a result of cerebral palsy. But older folks of a certain age will also know how it feels to fumble our way down the chart. Crystal clear letters become increasingly blurred as years advance. That squiggle in the middle of a lower line, you hazard \u2026 it\u2019s a C? Hmmm, maybe a G, a Q?<\/p>\n

\u2018No way\u2019 Nualla Watt\u2019s face is disarmingly, ruefully honest as she reads her poem in the video made for the Poems for Doctors project. And it leads to another stirring discovery. <\/p>\n