New task: to write a poem a day under Melbourne curfew 2020.
DAY 1 – Aug 3
fewer curs
that’s what’s needed
in these new
cursed lockdown
curfew days
fewer whining dogs, please
skulking
emptied vacant streets
in search of sniff of
rat
crossbreeds barking
me me me
and who’s to blame
what about us
is the question
we must ask
and bite down hard
on that cold bone
of emptiness
and loss
and unmourned dead
and wedding dresses never worn
and babies born into uncertainty
(as were we all
but not like this
no hug no kiss)
we curse the few who disagree
who will not see
that everything we knew
and understood
is changed and gone forever
by this new
this me and you
who must needs be
in this together
but six masked feet apart
we are not the cursed few
we are the many
it is all of us
and it might break
our hearts
but it will pass.
See also poems read out loud at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9uLwxslE_VQ-fu-Dw6gdIA/playlists
Also 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