covid (Remove filter)
Taming of the shoe
All this time I've been waiting
Sitting pretty for you
But today has been strange
Panicked, lost and deranged
What is a lockdown?
I've only heard of a knockout
Never mind, you'll all be back in this shop
Money ready with a skip and a hop
I'm the newest thing you know
Laced up, beautiful and ready to go
Talk of the town I will be
When you finally return an...
Thursday 9th May 2024 10:22 am
Cellular Entropy
spread panic
from ground zero of the epidemic,
this nuclear mutagen is a variant
that can turn on an
Saturday 16th December 2023 4:53 pm
Sweet Dreams
no horizon
seas starved sky bleak
abyss where tubed monsters victims seek
thoughts like serpents
regrets black orcs
airless tides of fear where no one talks
scaly remorse
shoals of regrets
but no sane fisherfolk cast their nets
carnivorous,
my flotsam of shame
spins round whirlpools without a name
encased in lead
how can lungs breathe
a...
Thursday 14th October 2021 12:57 pm
Kelp
I've got entangled in pure mystery
never endured a coquette so lewd,
her words twinkle like spangles but
despite all the glitter she's shrewd
I've come across some fast workers
in moments she had me unzipped
I'm far from a slouch at glib patter
in her sea-soiled face rests a crypt
its like being a drunken fire-eater
on a water-bed playing with fire
I've grow...
Friday 20th August 2021 10:43 am
Sealed Units
next door they've got new windows
all triple-glazed for noise and heat
hermetically sealed against society
frost and storms designed to beat
yet other enemies will get through
invisible demons with wings of fire
on those panes reflections of one
mountainous molten funeral pyre
coming round but I'll never be right
lungs crackling like broken glass
legs potent...
Friday 6th August 2021 10:52 am
In Dock
never heard her weep out loud before
hard to believe she loves me so much
they called her in for this one last time
no kisses allowed or a hint of a touch
lonely years and empty days before that
vision of blue eyes and short red dress,
the night fate put me on the right path
ending years of drift and its futile mess
takes a lot to kill love but I did my best
pu...
Tuesday 27th July 2021 10:16 am
The Island of The Vaccinated
Such jubilation every time a vessel
debarks a new contingent at the port.
So much relief when loved ones, wrested apart
for long, lone months are free again to nestle
cheek to cheek, to hug and kiss, to jostle,
guiltlessly mingling among the singing throng,
siblings swinging siblings, making rings
to dance till dawn with no one a virus’ vassal.
Ravenous variants infes...
Monday 7th June 2021 10:14 pm
A Parting
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...
Thursday 18th March 2021 10:32 am
A Ghostly Show
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?
Wednesday 10th February 2021 11:44 pm
Virus Blues: Removal of the Magnificent
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...
Thursday 4th February 2021 7:08 pm
Virus Blues: A Bigley Death Rate
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 fir...
Thursday 4th February 2021 7:05 pm
Virus Blues 'We didn't go and run away somewhere'
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.
...
Thursday 4th February 2021 7:03 pm
Into the Lockdown
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 ...
Thursday 4th February 2021 12:58 pm
The Rhythm of My Heart
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
...Tuesday 2nd February 2021 6:47 am
Homeopathy
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...
Saturday 9th January 2021 10:59 am
Retraining Bert
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...
Sunday 8th November 2020 6:47 pm
The unkindness of Covid
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...
Monday 19th October 2020 12:41 pm
The Darkness And The Light
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...
Monday 12th October 2020 8:28 pm
Chiropody
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
...Tuesday 6th October 2020 11:06 am
Glad Eye
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...
Monday 28th September 2020 10:48 am
The Silence Still Talks
Confined to a tiny apartment
terrified of a viral threat
she rocks in her chair listening
to voices in the corridor
Who is going out?
To voices in the street
Who are they? Are they infected?
She turned off the TV months ago
when depression became too much to bear.
In the silence she waits
for the danger to pass
listening to the constant
chatter of...
Tuesday 22nd September 2020 9:27 am
Ghost Café
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...
Tuesday 8th September 2020 12:47 pm
Cry From Isolation — A Sonnet
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...
Thursday 13th August 2020 4:38 am
Ode to Covid Carers.
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...
Wednesday 5th August 2020 12:54 pm
The Vampire Virus
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.
...Wednesday 1st July 2020 10:15 am
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
recalled moments from a busy life;
the night before your wedding
barefoot kisses b...
Tuesday 5th May 2020 4:53 pm
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