Poetry Blogs (Covid)

it will be good to see Maltese Tony

my long-standing barber of choice

in his salon reeking of peppermint,

a sharp scissors and guttural voice

a noted martyr to his ageing bowels

herbal remedies kept them in check

but Tony's flatulence accompanied

every snip at the hairs of your neck

bravo that regular peppermint peep

sweet breath on your greying locks

the th...

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Empty of its audience, red, plush velvet seats;

Sorrowful, in mourning.

No more echoes of applause,

the opening of a grandeur curtain,

Just a ghostly appearance,

Breathing in the past.

Dusty stage lights,

Cobwebbed orchestra,

Costumes bleeding out their vibrany; silently decaying.

What do you call a stage

without a captivating drama?

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Virus Blues: Removal of the Magnificent

 January 14, 2021.  © Mark, All rights reserved

Suggested limits
for foregone futures,
the virus adaption
of torn open sutures.

Partial containment
while our vulnerable vacate,
the vaccine dilemma,
for the fit to placate.

A lockdown series,
serious intention
twitching behind curtains,
turmoiled perception.

Removal of life
removal of glee,
removal of the magnificent
...

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Virus Blues: A Bigley Death Rate

November 20, 2020.  © Mark, All rights reserved

Fallen fallen
so low are we,
as a vindictive little virus
chops down our tree.

The chomping chins
dribble out their spit,
a bigley death rate
says an orange twit.

The homogenised lambast
a terminal bent,
health is now
a simple monetised intent.

Vaccines stab at
our glimmered hope,
who's first in line ?
Says the televisual sc...

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Virus Blues 'We didn't go and run away somewhere'

November 11, 2020.  © Mark, All rights reserved

We didn't go and run away somewhere
just the way we should,
symptoms closer
faster than ever now,
leaking fevered intimate despair.

the grunting of that typical class
deafens the squealing of the sores,
the requiem of the virus boys
stifles the digested stagnant snores.

They done gone and st...

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The World fell silent,

Sombre air began to fill the streets, 

There came an end to social meets.

No more dining and no more celebrations.

Hospital wards filled with a new enemy.

Masks, gloves and sanitation,

Echoed through the news,

Leaving a trail of gloomy blues.

Families gathered for the 5pm broadcast,

Rising death rates leaving them aghast.

But a ray of ...

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I dream of idle chatter

In a bar where nothing matters

Where sweet vibrations beat

In rhythm with my feet

And laughter comes so easy

Conversations light & breezy

Like a languid summers day

Where your mind can drift away

And eyes are full of winks

And lips are full with smiles

And beer flows like nectar

As we dance in different styles:

Some without rhythm

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no hairy lip has she or wrinkle

a far cry from ancient crones

her skin as smooth as marble

sweet melodies in her moans

black cats are always a clue

in the house hers does roam

its carbon eyes following me

at its muzzle flecks of foam

waking last night in terror

to the Devil she's chanting

buck naked and sweating

my blood she's decanting

her eyes h...

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Retraining Bert

Chefing is not what it used to be

His boss called him in and explained.

'We're now on tier 3 says the edict,

and boozers like this have to close.'

'No boss, we're exempt,

like the 'Spoons have been told.

We sell grub and that's kosher

just the ale house is doomed.'

'It won't work like that lad,

the punters are scared.

And I can't serv...

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Your polo shirt is slightly askew.

Eyeliner you try and hide.

My daughter baby’s prime;

we have fought for this.

You now sit in classrooms,

open windows, warmth drained.

Queue, face mask clad, in corridors

dreaming of seeing faces 

The boy you pass notes to

you are no longer free to kiss

or find the ecstasy in another.

Your childhood is on hold.

W...

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I

and I alone

upon my bed of cobbled stone

Ponder

   As my flesh weeps into gravel sheets

I ponder what it must be like

to be whole again

   To feel I had a soul again

This dessicated shell

crumbles like mountain scree

down, down to the hungry, black sea

lapping and licking at the feet of my bed

dragging out, with the tide, 

such meagre light from my hea...

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each day I went for a walk in the woods

with COVID you look after your ticker

you tend to see the same folk each day

they smile as I offer the faintest flicker

I'd copped a wan couple making the circuit

a pair regular as clockwork out every day

then I saw the woman strolling on her own

had her partner upped and gone away?

a week later I caught her eye and stopped

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The pandemic's killing the divorce rate

Those with any sense are not straying

My wayward tendencies are history

These days I spend my time praying

What good is my cute smile anymore?

Why bother all that dressing to impress?

When you're stuck in the house bingeing

How to find someone nice to undress?

When I do venture out a mask is essential

But my George Cloone...

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Our Halloween masks reflected back
as we peer through that dusty glass
into the quiet gloom of the Ghost Café

If only the ghost waitress would take our order
‘large or small?’ she asks, well, I’m a medium
ghost chairs dragged across the ghost floor

And the clank of local steel set down
on delicately painted porcelain
bustling echoes bounce from peeling walls

People starting or resta...

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How has Covid changed the way you live? Your local community? Many, many ways, probably.

One thing that has changed for me, one that I didn't expect to change quite so drastically, has been access to a library. I have none, and I don't know when/if I will again, which is heartbreaking. Libraries seem a magical, free service to us readers, but money is still required to keep them going. And Cov...

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By ACE8.6

I heard a baby cry today
while I was walking through the park.
The cry was not to get her way
It was strong, insistent, and dark
Was she too hot from the sun’s bright ray?
Was she afraid of the dog’s bark?
Was she demanding she be allowed to play
in the song of the Meadowlark?
This baby cried not for want
This baby cried to warn
And I became the confidant
Of this child wh...

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Ode to Covid Carers.

To intensive care and virus wards each day

In every town they make their way.

Caring souls, disguised in blue and white,

To fight against the Covid blight.

Shift after shift, through night and light

Brothers and sisters of mercy face up to our plight.

Masked, shielded, smocked and booted

lonely, fearful, solely commuted

on the near empty bus and...

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We ask where you came from,

how long do you intend to stay.

You are not welcomed here,

please checkout and go away.

Perhaps you came from a bat,

sold on a market selling meat.

Purchased and ate by a man,

who preferred rare meat to eat.

Maybe you were a vampire,

sustained by the cull of lives.

Could the blood in your flesh,

resist heat and somehow survive.

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Audio reading: https://soundcloud.com/tomalexwrite/renee-by-a-thread

Down the corridor, comes a scream
Was it physical pain
or the horror of finally learning
the way this game is turning
They took your clothes
gave you a gown
there was nothing to do but lay right down
Now, the machine breathes
for you
hung by a thread and leaving soon

Faint flashes behind tired eyelids
recalle...

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