Dictating poems in Spring 1997

In Spring 1997, I had a problem with my right wrist which made it hard to write. I spent the University of Basel semester break in Poitiers, where Andrea was teaching in the University's German Department. As I wanted to write poems, I bought a handheld dictaphone and tried out what it was like to dictate poems instead of writing them. Then I typed them up left-handed, which was also an interesting experience for someone who knows how to touch type. I found myself writing two poems in the voice of a seventeen-year-old girl, Erica, who was in trouble with her parents for having stayed out all night with her boyfriend. (Andrew Shields, #111Words, 13 August 2024)