Page 29 - Community Living Magazine 35-2

arts: poetry
The meanings of freedom

Two talented poets who have learning disabilities, Phillip Rackham and Sharon Russell, reflect on
freedom – in both day-to-day life and during the pandemic – and what it means to be without it.
Illustrations by Robin Meader

Freedom
Freedom is going to wrestling with my friends
Freedom is having a bath on my own
Freedom is going out on my own
Freedom is doing cooking for myself
Freedom is to go to Sainsbury’s by myself
Freedom is to choose what I want to wear
Freedom is to decide what I want to eat
Freedom is to decide by myself when I want to go to bed
Freedom is to play my music when I want to
Freedom is to have a girlfriend
Freedom is to use the telephone when I want to
Freedom is to get my money from the post office
Freedom is to get a present by myself
And freedom is to get a newspaper by myself
My name is Phillip Rackham. I live in north London and I love my independence.
I love being creative and attend creative writing classes at Community Focus
arts centre every week. This is my opportunity to express myself and socialise.
I am also big fan of Formula 1 but my big love is Arsenal – I am a lifelong fan

Lockdown
We all have to stay in because we don’t want to break that milk jug and we all
don’t want to get that bug
We all want to go and see what there is but we all have to stay in and do our
share, but we all want to go out, we all have to wear a mask because we
don’t want to get germs
We all want to go out and have a coffee, but we all have to sit in and
eat toffee
We all want to go out and buy toys in a shop or even a pub lunch, we all want
to go out but it’s plain to see that you are stuck in with me
We all want to go out and do something better, but I do think that we have to
wait until the weather is better
We all want to go out for a day but you are all worried that we might go
astray, we all have to expect that there is nowhere to go, not even in
the snow
We all have to stay calm and try to wait even if we all think it has come a
bit late
We all have to stay clear of other people otherwise we all have to spend all
day sitting in the steeple
We all want to go out and do things in time, but all haven’t got a dime
We all want to go out, but the pubs are closed, and we all want to go out and
have a jolly but we all have to stay in you big wally
We all have to stay in and do as we’re told so by the time we can get out we
will be 100 years old, so we all have to stay in and have a good cry but we
all have to say why, why, why
We all have to stay in touch but its not much fun so why can’t we all go out and catch some sun
At the end of the day we have all had enough, but I am sorry to tell you all it’s tough!!
Sharon Russell just lives to write poems and wants to share them. Writing poetry has got her through lockdown. She lives in Cheshire

www.cl-initiatives.co.uk Community Living Vol 35 No 2 | Winter 2022 29