DAY 2 – Aug 4
forty-two days
forty-one nights to go
there’s snow
and hail
and harsh winds blow
and no-one’s getting caught
in showers
between the hours
of eight and five
stayin’ alive
to dodge the ventilator
and the scythe
the plant you now
and dig you later
just like Grantley Dee
chimed in the 60s
when polio was still the go
and we queued for vaccines
like there was no tomorrow
we could defend alone
as if our little lives
depended on it
which they surely did
no question
those calipers were everywhere
in every boomer schoolyard shade
cold steel reminders
of the power of germs
not Germans
mightier than Adolf Hitler
just like COVID
silent, faceless,
stateless, godless
crouching tiger
hidden demon
bringing nations to their knees
our only weapon
muffled stasis
our only country
home.
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