Brave New Words, based at The Stove in Dumfries, put out a feeler in November last year for poetry and stories inspired by the theme of ‘What Now’ from writers in Dumfries and Galloway. The project was to create their first newspaper type anthology of new writing. It was a hard subject to write about without falling into cliches, and I’d been reluctant up until this point to express anything about my lockdown experience. But, I did, in the end. It’s not a feel-good poem. It’s not a sad poem. Just a questioning one. Further information on the anthology entitled 'What Now', in which my poem appears along with work from two other members of my writing group and other great writers, can be obtained from info@thestove.org The Now Winter now? Black branches silhouetted against grey skies, jackdaw’s sermons dominate the dawn chorus, snow covers the hills like a lost white sheet from the washing line, and short days and long nights eat away at nature’s workaday. And n