Lockdown 2.0 — A haiku a day project

HT 57079 – Poetry - COVID-19 Haikus, Louise Hopewell, Melbourne, 2020.

Poet: Louise Hopewell, Fitzroy North, Melbourne

Poet’s Statement: ‘Stuck working from home since March 2020, by the time Lockdown 2.0 arrived, I was creatively exhausted. I decided to reignite my creativity by writing a haiku a day. By the time the second lockdown ended, I had penned over 250 haiku, mostly inspired by my daily wander in the park opposite my house.

Haiku is about capturing small details from a single moment in time. Every day, walking up and down in the same strip of parkland, I was able to find something new and interesting to inspire a haiku or ten. As the lockdown dragged on, my haiku project made me tune in to the subtle and beautiful changes in nature as winter turned to spring turned to early summer. Through writing haiku, I was able to escape the feeling of being locked down. Writing haiku poetry freed me from the confines of lockdown.’

‘Writing haiku poetry freed me from the confines of lockdown.’ Louise Hopewell

Here’s a small sample:

lockdown 2.0
muddy puddles
grow muddier


wind rattles
through ghost gums —
deserted playground


#stayhome
creeping over the side fence
my neighbour’s jasmine


smiling big
beneath my mask —
lockdown selfie


home-office politics —
outside my window
squabbling lorikeets


working from home —
wishing I could think outside
the square of my house


grand final day 2020
flocking to the MCG
seagulls


the curve flattens —
in the playground
kids swing high


With the support of the Office for Suburban Development, a handwritten copy of these poems has been acquired into Museum Victoria’s State Collection.

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