Idyllic setting
Empty seats
New normals
Under development
Tag: Covid-19
Train Wreck
Train wreck of a year
Called Twenty Twenty One ends
Twenty Twenty Two
Too?
Emptiness
Of all the hardships
Created by the pandemic
It was the emptiness
Of time and space
Which nearly did him in
Created by the pandemic
It was the emptiness
Of time and space
Which nearly did him in
The connectionless void
In which the bump of elbows
Became an act of intimacy
Which made a smile detectable
Only by a gesture of the eyes
In which the bump of elbows
Became an act of intimacy
Which made a smile detectable
Only by a gesture of the eyes
So he filled the emptiness
With the one thing left to him
With the one thing left to him
Love
Love not for one or many
Nor even for himself
But for the pure delight
Of existence
Nor even for himself
But for the pure delight
Of existence
And that is how he learned
The true nature of
The true nature of
Love
The Turn that is not Return
The world begins
To turn again
No longer still
Though somnolent, still
To turn again
No longer still
Though somnolent, still
The long exhale
Following the deep, deep breath
The moment which moves
Between the change
And knowing
There is no going
back
Dimming Light
The light which skylight glass admits
Be grey and dour as such the day commits
While just as dim our life in quarantine submits
Then random seem the ones for whom disease remits
Be grey and dour as such the day commits
While just as dim our life in quarantine submits
Then random seem the ones for whom disease remits
Their darkest hour
To bed confined
For none the power
To stall the march of death’s decline
And so alone
Souls pass away
While not a hand
Is offered they
But latex glove
The touch at end of earthly stay
The Gateway
It appeared as a gateway in the sky
A portal to other possibilities
Though, perhaps, few saw it that way
Panic gripped much of the world
Keeping them inside, locked away
Sharing their fear and uplifting messages
Of hope and determination to see it through
Sharing their confusion and conspiracy theories
Simplistic and simple-minded explanations
Of a phenomenon clearly no one understood
A portal to other possibilities
Though, perhaps, few saw it that way
Panic gripped much of the world
Keeping them inside, locked away
Sharing their fear and uplifting messages
Of hope and determination to see it through
Sharing their confusion and conspiracy theories
Simplistic and simple-minded explanations
Of a phenomenon clearly no one understood
The defiant ones
The violent ones
Threw fists in the air
Angry slogans on cardboard
Rallied outside the labs and government offices
Where the people who obviously cared
Desperately tried to calm the population
While they developed theories and protocols
Used every tool of reason and science
In an effort to understand
The gateway’s true nature
Frustrated by
Exhausted by
All the certainties in an uncertain time
The whole grand chaos of truths and lies
I went out of town
Up on a hillside overlooking the valley
Felt the warmth of the sun
As it burned through the gateway
The borders of which undulated
Expanded and contracted
Like a living thing
With rhythms as indiscernible
As the nature of the object itself
I only wished I could fly
Get to the other side
Of whatever had opened the hole in the sky
Be done with all that was unfolding
On this side
The sun seemed like it was reaching
Through the gateway
Beckoning
With a promise of something much better
Than we’d ever known on this side
Or maybe it was just me
Hoping that this time
We’d learn lessons of no small value
And change the world which had existed
Long before the gateway ever appeared
Lockdown
Upon the rocky shore I stand
Curvature of Earth pronounced
By band of amber sky beyond
Horizon’s edge I cannot reach
Nor sail for regions yet unseen
Confined am I to stony beach
And yet my beating heart’s content
Relies on dreams which circumvent
The confines of this covenant
Curvature of Earth pronounced
By band of amber sky beyond
Horizon’s edge I cannot reach
Nor sail for regions yet unseen
Confined am I to stony beach
And yet my beating heart’s content
Relies on dreams which circumvent
The confines of this covenant
Viral Smoke
The smoke rolled in
From a distant fire
Down the narrow valley
From a distant fire
Down the narrow valley
Not so stealthy as a virus
But with a smothering effect
Which would someday seem
Not so unfamiliar
A dis-ease
From which none are immune
And all are infected
Something a Little Bit Right
It was great when I heard
My favourite cafe opened up again
Hadn’t had a decent cuppa in over a month
My favourite cafe opened up again
Hadn’t had a decent cuppa in over a month
Can’t afford an expresso machine of my own
Just the bodum I picked up at the grocery
The day I also found yeast
Yeast!
Rarer than toilet paper
Rarer than a kiss for a single bloke like me
In this freakin’ pandemic
Anyway, the bodum
If you double the usual amount of grounds
I suppose it’s OK
If you got really good beans
Real dark, the Tanzanian is the best
Ground to the perfect chunkiness
But it ain’t nuthin’ like Frank’s americano
I suppose even if I had an expresso machine
It still wouldn’t be nuthin’ like Frank’s
I dunno
The guy’s magic
And a good guy too
We get on
I’ve followed him around for a while
His fourth cafe in five years
“I get bored if I stay in one place too long”
He told me once
So anyways
I hear the cafe’s opened up again
An’ I rush right out there
I see through the glass
Frank’s on today
Sweet!
I also see inside there’s a bit of a queue
And the tables and chairs are all set out
Lined up tickety-boo
Sparse and empty
Like a display in an upscale furniture store
Every time I walk in here
I get the same tingly feeling up my spine
Heat on the back of my neck
That cringe you get
When you feel like you’re in the wrong place
I like Frank’s last cafe better than this one
It has armchairs and a fireplace
All warm and cozy
Like a family room
I’d hang there for hours
Chattin’ up regulars and whoever
This one’s all artsy as fuck
Greys and blacks
Angular and hard
Not the kinda place you go to hang
I almost always take my java togo
I got no reason to hang
People come here to confer with clients
Whine to their colleagues
About their stock market woes
Suit and tie designer shit
“Aesthetics”
Frank told me once
“Looks over comfort”
“Image over presence”
Ass thet icks
Fuck that shit
Pix to Words 