Eclipsed

Photo by Kashif Haque

'Eclipsed', was published in print in the nature writing anthology, This is Our Place by Spread the Word and the London Wildlife Trust, and can be downloaded here. 

'Eclipsed' began life on June 10th in a Charlie Latimer class (@Charlie_Lat). We were talking about writing and when we get stuck or can't start. We were asked to write 'one true sentence' in the Hemingway tradition of when he told himself...

"Do not worry. You have always written before and you will write now. All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence that you know." So finally I would write one true sentence, and then go on from there.  (A Moveable Feast, Hemingway, 1964)

My 'one true sentence' was:

'The sun eclipsed looks like a crescent moon.' 

There had been a solar eclipse that day and this became a refrain in the story and 'Eclipsed' was then developed in the Spread the Word and London Wildlife Trust nature writing workshops (@STWevents & @WildLondon).

Here's what was going on in my head and in the world, that influenced the story...

1. A solar eclipse that loooked like a cresent moon.
2. Bonnie Tyler's 'Total Eclipse of the Heart' 
3. Urban nature, seasonal cycles, from the human body to the solar system
   
4. Domestic abuse triggered in pregnancy
5. Rise of Domestic Abuse numbers in lockdown
6. Domestic Violence websites 'hide' button
   
7. Reports of  billionaires going into space when people on earth are going to foodbanks and earth is going to pot. 

This Is Our Place was launched by Spread the Word and the London Wildlife Trust, on the 27th of November at Camley Street Natural Park. The event had live streamed readings from the project’s writers-in-residence, Jackee Holder, Elspeth Wilson, Laura Barker, LiLi K. Bright and Anita Sethi, alongside writers like me, whose work had been selected as part of the anthology showcasing voices in nature writing.