Slight red cloth with four figures in yellow, inconsequential in many ways, but somehow survived till now. Worn out, cherished and treasured, meant the world to the family, soft feel of comfort, safety and home.
Youngest child would take it everywhere, was inseparable from it, called it their ‘Bubby’. It was their comfort blanket, gave them such peace, always smelled of mum and home. He hugged it so often that it become entirely smooth with love. His young hands loved the softness and elegance.
Later, when he died in a terrible tragedy, the family put it up in the living room, a colourful reminder of all the love they felt for him. Through this tapestry their lives are laid out, laid bare, in elegant cotton and camelid fibres. It brightened the grey drudgery of loss and their hard lives, provided colour and verve, comfort and magic.
We can feel their lives right here in this object, strange connections awaken. Invisible threads connect them to us. They lived as we live, had the same passions, loves and losses, felt the same things, hundreds of miles away, so close.
Peter Devonald is widely published in magazines/anthologies including London Grip, Door Is A Jar, Bluebird Word, Metachrosis, Vipers Tongue, Voidspace and the6ress. Winner of the Waltham Forest Poetry Prize 2022, Heart Of Heatons Poetry Awards 2023 & 2021, joint winner FofHCS Poetry 2023, commended by judges in the Hippocrates Prize for Poetry and Medicine 2024, Forward Prize nomination 2023, two Best Of The Net nominations and shortlisted Saveas 2023 & Allingham 2023. He is poet in residence at Haus-a-rest. Won 50+ film awards, former senior judge/ mentor Peter Ustinov Awards (iemmys) and Children’s Bafta nominated.