Three women, one touchstone: writing through crises from the ‘girls’ desk

Abstract

A humble desk, handmade by my grandmother, is my current place of work, as I have been recently uprooted from an academic office space. It is talisman and anchor, witness to three generations of mastering craft, private grief and quiet resilience. Taking this unassuming object as a prompt, I conducted a creative interrogation into the impact of objects on writing practice. Simply moving my practice from an institutional space to a private one has teased matrilineal embodied narratives out of hiding. Stories of poverty and subversion suddenly speak through me, as if there are spectres in the timber of this so-called ‘Girls’ Desk’ that intersect with flesh-memory. This piece will reflect on the process of writing through my grandmother’s desk and include examples of the resulting prose and poetry.