Contemporary Arts - 2022 - Poetry by Toria Garbutt

Poet Toria Garbutt shares an extract from her Parsonage residency
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Poet Toria Garbutt shares an extract from her Parsonage residency

Oh Goddess of thunder!
Jealous brute!
Trees screech
a hollow psalm
We see
Misery hung like
A wretched widow on your arm
 
Yes, we know the wild world well

 
In 2020, Toria Garbutt’s residency explored Anne Bronte’s writing around violence and Anne’s experiences supporting a family member with the illness of addiction. Toria wrote a poem drawing on these topics and her own experiences and she worked with filmmaker Victor Freedom to create a film of this piece. Toria has decided not to release this film due to the sensitivity of the subject matter in light of changing personal circumstances. The Bronte Parsonage Museum supports her decision. We hope that you find Toria’s brilliant work elsewhere and we wish her the best with her future work.
 
Above and below you will find snippets of Toria's poems, and accompanying photos that evoke the film she created, released to celebrate the birth date of Anne Bronte. Reveal more:
She sees the knife is missing

from the kitchen drawer

She hears the phone ring

bobbies braying

at their door

Sister sinks

into a black

pit

And she can’t swim no more 
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