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Reconnect Voices is a space to share and celebrate the creative work of parents and carers across Oxford Brookes.
Alongside the demands of caring and working, our members carry humour, imagination and lived experience that often go unspoken. This page brings those creative expressions together — from poetry and reflection to photography, zines and future wellbeing workshops.
In 2023–2024, our final session of the year was a poetry workshop led by Dr Dinah Roe, inviting colleagues to explore both their everyday and dream “to-do” lists. The pieces created were thoughtful, joyful and deeply personal, capturing the varied realities of caring.
Below is a selection of the poetry and photography shared by members. We hope to continue building this space as Reconnect grows, adding creative work from future sessions and activities.
Poetry by Carers – Reconnect Session with Dr Dinah Roe
Poetry by Carers – Reconnect Session with Dr Dinah Roe
Kelly’s To Do List
Kelly’s To Do List
by Kelly Holden-White
Send, read, pick up, put up, tell.
Rest, respond, listen, hand over, sell.
Be mindful of recycling junk.
The ticking clock continues to clunk.
Missed a deadline — just mark the date.
Another job: the cracking gate.
WhatsApp pings, email dings.
Which one needs my brain and things?
Time to go, jump in the car.
The kids ask, “Is it far?”
How long until the cruise?
I just remembered — before I snooze.
🟡
Victoria’s To Do List
Victoria’s To Do List
by Victoria Pratt
Clean bathroom thoroughly
or lie on a pebbly beach
and listen to the washing sea on the pebbles.
Find clean pillowcases for guests
or sleep all weekend in an empty house.
Do a Sainsbury’s order
or wander round sunny big markets
and grab a morsel to eat, bread in the sunshine.
Walk the dog
or walk the dog around the block.
Sparkle the dog.
Write birthday card + wrap presents
or burn it all down, everything in a bonfire,
and move far away.
🟡
Susannah’s To Do List
Susannah’s To Do List
by Susannah Write
Telephone call with Dad.
Gwen’s packed lunch needs making.
Drama at bedtime — pyjamas don’t put themselves on by magic.
Origami laundry — it will fit in the machine if I lean on the door.
Laying the non-pit for the Priory.
Interviewing for playmate — I’m old and wise enough to do it properly now.
Sleep till noon — the day after tomorrow.
Transfer minutes — the list swaps and shifts.
🟡
Emily’s To Do List
Emily’s To Do List
by Emily Brown
Clean the bathroom.
Sort out toys — find ELEPHANT!
Pay credit card… PAY CREDIT CARD!!
Summer!!! It will be sunny. Yes, it will.
Nappies and wipes. More wipes.
Sew, sew, sew — buy fabric, look at patterns.
Drink less wine — finance more.
Put Apple on and check emails anyhow.
Sort laundry. Load laundry.
Put away laundry. Put away laundry.
Drink more wine. Despair at Facebook.
Drink wine. Enjoy silence.
🟡
Alice’s To Do List
Alice’s To Do List
by Alice Gerlach
Run, but not too far.
Summer looms.
Plans, playdates — not too many.
Tiredness consumes.
Tidy — not that one!
Never assume.
🟡
Dina’s To Do List
Dina’s To Do List
by Dina Sikorska
Breathe in…
Take a shower,
but not in my usual
way.
Feel the droplets
on my skin,
soak in the moisture and quietness,
settling into my bones.
Breathe out…
Touch the soft grey towel,
feel its cosy embrace around my body.
Heart beats…
Slide the mirror wardrobe door,
seeing — and liking — my own reflection.
Through the mirror, the window calls me back.
Pause…
Observe the colour of my eyes —
vibrant amber circles in the sun.
Look back through the open window…
Sun, trees, birds, blue sky,
and only net curtains between us.
Breathe again…
Wrap myself in the waffle bathrobe,
a gift from Mexico,
adorned with a golden mermaid.
Feel the warmth and magic
of distant shores embracing me.
Our poetry session was led by Dr Dinah Roe, Associate Professor and Research Lead for English, Creative Writing and Modern Languages, and Reader in 19th-Century Literature at Oxford Brookes. Dinah co-leads the Poetry By Carers project, a series of free creative workshops for people with caring responsibilities, supported by Carers Oxfordshire, the Oxford Brookes Poetry Centre and the British Academy.
This Reconnect workshop invited members to reimagine their everyday and dream “to-do” lists. The poems on this page were created during that session and are shared with participants’ permission.
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