Call and Response

Giovanna Mackenna is The Museum of Loss and Renewal’s Poet in Residence during 2025.

When Giovanna’s Poem 01 was published on this Blog, the artist Katia Nethercot was moved to write a poem in response. Through poetry, Giovanna and Katia have come to know each other. Such new creative introductions are one of the aims of The Museum of Loss and Renewal’s Poet in Residence position.

This is what Katia says:

”My name is Katia. As someone who can sometimes struggle to express myself in conversation, I find poetry to be a freeing way to translate my thoughts to the spoken form. It is a hand I hold to get me through life’s ups, downs and mundanity.

I also love to hear poetry in the spoken form, and recently hearing Giovanna’s voice connected to something inside of me and gave me the urge to respond.

I learned to whistle before I could talk and even as an adult I tend to somewhat unconsciously imitate the sounds I hear. I can pick out bird sounds amongst the chorus of the city, and sometimes catch myself quietly copying them. Responding to Giovanna’s poem felt a lot like a call and response as you might find between birds, and I quite like the image that conjures up.”