He shared his poems in Haenertsburg and Tzaneen over the last two weeks. Joined by author and travel-journalist, Bridget HiltonBarber and entrepreneur and poet, Paul Paunde from 1000 Limpopo Secrets, each piece was read aloud and for a brief time those in attendance were transported back to the days of the pandemic. Blight’s work reflects on and summarises the small oddities, overwhelm, anxiety, and eventual relief of the Covid-19 pandemic in ten poems, “lest we forget.”

Blight dedicates these poems to the surviving families of the 3.3 million people, that the World Health Organisation estimates died of Covid-19 during and as a consequence of the pandemic. “Howard often turns his pen to paper to capture unfolding events, and these poems are a reflection of the good, the bad and the ugly during that time.

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He speaks of how the planet was gripped by fear and breathlessness, how lockdown forced us to regain our humanity again, and how slowly hope began to unfurl as the virus was brought under control and we could at last remove our masks,” writes Hilton-Barber in the foreword. He looks to nature and berates the reader, and himself, for continuing to mistreat the environment in the poem, Perceptions, penned in February 2021, and A Gift of Shame, penned a few months later.

“There often comes a time when a writer reflects and encapsulates our feelings. Howard’s poignancy and imagery with his penmanship, has led us to forgotten memories and delivered us back from sanitisers,” says Paunde.