Locked down Bubbling up: Anthology of poetry and short stories

by Mark Rice, Lesley Smith, Mairead de Bhal

Short stories and written by three Irish writers, two living in Wexford and one in Dublin who worked together virtually during the Covid 19 pandemic in 2020. All writing is fictional, some relating to the virus and its effects, others reflecting different topics inspired during the time. Writing the book provided the writers with an escape and they took comfort in the task. We hope it provides insights into a unique time and living during a global pandemic but mostly that it's read and enjoyed in its own right. The topics covered range from love, war memorials, fear, resilience, people coming together, social media, information, running. Some are serious, some funny, some tongue in cheek and some thought-provoking. It hopes to provide both a record of living through the early part of a Pandemic and goes from first understanding to reality setting in, to restrictions and containment phase to Lockdown, partial reopening and then into the second wave. We lived through Lockdown, Re-opening and in October 2020 heading into the second wave lockdown Our second Lockdown with colder weather and grey skies is so different from the first which had blue skies and sun. Fatigue is setting in and we are all hoping for a vaccine or that this will magically disappear. The things we did during lockdown to aid us ranged from baking, walking, running, praying and gardening. It was a strange time and we hope you enjoy the contents of this book. Some Covid 19 related stories, some not but all original stories and poetry from 2020. We hope we have given a clear Irish context. We included quotations in the hope to be inspired ourselves but also to inspire you the reader and also in places to provide the context of what was being said by the Irish government. Other things of major importance were happening at the time that this book was being written, Black Lives Matter, Climate change, USA election, Forest Fires, Planned Brexit but we have not intentionally commented on these in any meaningful way. We hope we have indicated what it is like to be living alone versus living in a family unit during a Pandemic. Enjoy and if you like this please search for other works by the individual authors. We would really appreciate it if you would take the time to write a review. Thank you

190 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 2, 2020

About the author

An Irish writer living in Dublin, Ireland, a registered member of the Society of Authors, Irish Arts Council (no ARN 73090) and a member of the Museum of Literature Ireland MOLI. I created my blog https://weirdorwhat.wordpress.com/ in 2014 and self-published two books of short stories before self-publishing Murder in Maspalomas in 2017. Taking a cruise one thousand miles up the Amazon to Manaus, led me to write Murder On Board which was published by Junction Publishing in 2019. The arrival of the Covid-19 pandemic inspired Locked Down Bubbling Up self-published in 2020, a collection of poems and short stories completed by two Irish poets and myself, without ever physically meeting.

Reviews

[Emelia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I would like to thank Mark Rice, one of the authors, for gifting me Locked Down Bubbling Up, it was difficult at times to read, I am sure it was even more so to write.


Was it hard to read a book about a pandemic while being locked down in the middle of one?
Yes and no.
Yes, because it is always hard to read about the trials people go through when faced with the struggle of keeping it together, when everything around them seems to be falling apart.
No, because it helps to know that there are people going through the same trials you are, there is comfort in knowing you are not alone.
Locked Down Bubbling Up is about what it is like to face a pandemic in Ireland. While a work of fiction, the stories are real. Real because right now, somewhere on the planet, someone has experienced what the characters in this book have experienced. Somewhere someone has lost a loved one. Someone is facing the pandemic alone. Someone has just found out they have Covid, someone is worrying they might.
Mairead de Bhal, Lesley Smith, and Mark Rice have written an extraordinary book about people in extraordinary circumstances. Though fictional, the people they have written about are our neighbors, people we work with, members of our family, our friends, and even ourselves. No matter where you live you will find pieces of your life within these pages. I know I have. What I liked most about this book is the fact that, come what may, we are at our best when things are at their worst, and the characters in this book showed this to be true.
I do hope you take the time to read this book; if you are worried, you will find comfort. If you are grieving, you will find solace. If you are alone, you will find that you are not. Wherever you may be, there is someone somewhere else who understands your circumstances, and knows empathy for them.

And in the sage words of Red Green, "We're all in this together, and I'm pulling for you."


Although

Although life different let impedance inspire.
Hold those we love.
The ebb, flow of tides,
moving, returning,
daylight into night.
Despite the fears sheltered in our minds,
hold onto every color, shadow, shape.
Faith gives ballast from future pain.
Even in uncertainty, face the future.
Reach for connections.
Trust the light to shine,
to aid the world to smile again.

Lesley Smith

[C.E. Cannery]

This was an anthology of poems and short stories by three different Irish authors. Each was a story about Covid from a different point of view. Everyone's perspective was represented: children, the elderly, those with Covid, those just simply fearing, country folks, city folks, and everything in between. Some of the stories were heartbreaking (and I'll admit to a good tear or two), while others were amusing, humous or even, bizarre.

I did enjoy this anthology. (I especially liked the short stories - the one about the man walking in the rain with the twist at the end was my favorite. Though, I felt like most of the poetry fell a bit flat for me, personally. I tend to like more rhyme-y poems.) That being said, I would feel strange rating this because there were a lot of little errors in the manuscript that I feel like could be corrected quickly, and due to the nature/topic of this novel, it would be a bit petty of me to knock it for that. So I'll leave it unrated for now.

[Tammy · Rating 4 out of 5]

The work as a whole is personalized, moving and frank, without glossing over or being syrupy. Audiences will get caught up in the honest opinions and varying views inside the poems, essays, and slice-of-life scenarios. A great read for those needing to reflect on the year 2020 through the filter of a lockdown called COVID-19.