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We are Responsible for Each Other

Updated: Jun 7, 2021

Poem by Laura Dickinson


They lifted their hands together

Throwing not a mortar board

But a collection of wilting stars

Removed from orbit round their heads

And propelled towards the sky

The longest held breath

Let out into the deepest sigh


Spinning stars grew higher until

Suspended in ink black empty space they connected

Constellations

Sparks of orange, blue and red in between

Spoke of something else to understand

That of which we had not yet seen


We are responsible for each other

Forgive the world and move on

But that’s hard to say

when you’re living

In the silver lining of a storm cloud

There is no more colour in silver than in grey


I am in wonder of the stars

And their ability to exist so far apart

In search of their answers

And nowhere else to go

We each joined in mass exodus to the beaches, fields and hills

Breaking out of the cloud and settling pearlescence

In essence escaping from the disconnect


Step by heavy step lifting each boot from the ground

Mud clung to our feet

As if proud to hinder us

The weight of just being, now

When I thought back to our earlier days

We had prayed for more than this


Look up

I looked.

Nothing

It was as if the cosmos had learned from our island

And u - turned themselves back to the sky

with a smoky vengeance that covered their trails

I have never seen Saturn

But I imagine its rings orbit with such balance

Such gravity we craved


But what a sight


When you realise the energy of 1000 people

cannot be confined to these small glowing rooms

Stacked on top of each other as if to be organised

Though technology has become our only means of interaction

We will not fall into standby


What I did see on that night was a strange lunar eclipse

Government and arts converging

Moon moving through the earths penumbra

Our arts remain defunded

Shrouded in darkness by the very rooves we lay under

We once again turned away from the sky to our screens

To consume the remnants of our art scene

Nothing new to be made

We started again

Retrained

But not in cybersecurity

And as we learned these new ways

our moon appeared from the shadow of our own earth

A supermoon

We watched it bloom

And now that story is ours to teach to the world



Images by DMU current and graduate MA fashion and Textile designers


Still taken from the group film courtesy of  Antony Woolmer
Chen - Ni - Fashion

Still taken from the group film courtesy of  Antony Woolmer
SimranDhond - Contour

Still taken from the group film courtesy of  Antony Woolmer
Yukun Deng - Footwear


Still taken from the group film courtesy of  Antony Woolmer
Stephanie Choy - Fashion

Still taken from the group film courtesy of  Antony Woolmer
Fariha Choudhury - Fashion

Still taken from the group film  courtesy of  Antony Woolmer
Sam Sargeant - Fashion

Still taken from the group film courtesy of  Antony Woolmer
Phoebe Thorne - Contour

Still taken from the group film courtesy of  Antony Woolmer
Christina Wigmore - Textiles

Still taken from the group film courtesy of  Antony Woolmer
Bethany Bell - Fashion


Still taken from the group film courtesy of  Antony Woolmer
Hongyu Hou - Accessories

Still taken from the group film courtesy of  Antony Woolmer
Devika Bahadur - Footwear

Still taken from the group film courtesy of  Antony Woolmer
Inae You - Textiles


Still taken from the group film courtesy of  Antony Woolmer
Theognosia Chrysostomou - Fashion

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