Build up herd immunity
selves as cattle
livestock locked down
in slaughterhouse towns
stay home
protect the NHS
and save lives
protect and survive
taking back control
the language of our various crises
the slogans of our desperate times
the litany of avoidable lunacy
an opportunity to inform on those
who veer from the restrictions
of the pandemic's regime of new laws
with new rules to learn
the requested change of behaviour
of travel and purchase patterns
the twitching net curtains
betraying an increased interest
in the essential comings and goings
of one’s dear neighbours
funny how we find our true place
when we’re all in this together
and there's no let up from spam
its faceless operators still having
to steal a living as thousands die
may these gangster spamsters
be eaten alive by their hamsters
as other life forms colonise
the polluted human settlements
and the air is cleansed again
there’ll never be a Spring
quite like this one
until the next time
the lemming army of hoarders
is marching over the cliff edge
of dried teats and no deals
with their gluttonous supermarket trolleys
and who’s profiteering from
Personal Protection Equipment
ventilators and medication?
who actually is in charge
of the looting the delays
and the half-heartedness?
my grandmothers could have done better
they were not hampered
by feelings of entitlement
but knew from real life drama
what urgency demanded
where to start in Ravi Shankar’s back catalogue
now I've got the time?
pandemonium reigns
now wash your hands
there’ll never be a Spring
quite like this one
until the next time
