Kate completed her PhD at Arts University Bournemouth in the academic year 2019/2020. Her inquiry examines the place of creative writing in the wider context of design writing. She has explored the relationship between poetry and designed objects and how poetry impacts on the ways in which we respond to them. Her work has developed new methods of research and a concept of Design Poetry that critically articulates both designer and user experience through the medium of creative writing and poetry in particular. In her research her own poetry has rested a lens on the plastic chair – an object, everyday and ordinary, yet having the potential to be extraordinary.
The Ghost of a Chair (Clear Thinking)
Kate Hall
Is there a ghost in the chair observing my rest?
No, the ghost is the chair and the chair is not there.
If the chair is not there, can I trust what I see?
Is it me who is here?
Is the chair really me?
Said the ghost, from the seat,
I am yours to command.
But say I, should I stare?
Do I sit?
Do I stand?
As you wish, said the ghost
But beware of your dreams
You may think you know life
But it is not what it seems