April 9th – POSITIVELY C

it’s the club

nobody

wants to join

but once you’re in

you are a part

of history

lifetime membership

posterity

Germ of the Century

has found its lethal way

to you

flying Batwing Airways

all the way from China

Asia Minor

Europe, Russia

Paris, France

match and dance

cruise ship liner

roadside diner

and all resistance

we threw in its way

did not deflect it

from its ruthless course

shield wall

KN29

vaccinations three

or maybe four

as nothing

to the force

of destiny

with your name stamped upon it

plainly as a backstage pass

from Sunbury

a calliper

a smallpox scar

signs of the times

ASIO file

that pin was dropped

and the bastard

found you faster

than Deliveroo

or Uber Eats

knocked you flat

and sweating in your sheets

kept you off the streets

to contemplate

biology

and what friends are for.

See also poems read out loud at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9uLwxslE_VQ-fu-Dw6gdIA/playlists

My book of poems, A Day At A Time In Rhyme (Littlefox Press) can be found here: https://www.amazon.com.au/Day-At-Time-Rhyme/dp/0648083861/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=A+Day+At+A+Time+In+Rhyme+Jane+Clifton&qid=1572053238&sr=8-1

or on the SHOP page of this very website.

A Day At A Time – live! coming to La Mama in July 2022.