lockdown (pause)
the everyday normal
our house, room, walls
is the office & theatre & sports bar
& gym & school & library (& everything else)-
wired & plugged & zoomed
virtual doctor appointments & weddings
& funerals (& everything else)-
we follow rules under pandemic times
wearing mask was initially a strange abnormality
like fishy, false news, but graph data of rising cases
don't lie
as in votes count in election results
don't lie
i delete
(covididiots marching last weekend) & read
with hope vaccine development news
won our 2020 Giller Prize for short stories
i practice on my readings,
rounding my voice to bellowing bells
applause, applause (pause)-
my mind reels back to short dayhours
as yellowing of maple leaves mark
the season change
we (pause)
winter for few days of sun-
shine, spring of birdsongs, magic of colors
blanketing our city up north
Posted for dVerse Poets Pub - Poetics, Poetry as Witness, hosted by Peter Frankis.
We are enjoying a (rare) warm autumn week. Thanks for the visit and comments.
It's amazing how little that really happens outside what we read... the numbers that we read.
ReplyDeleteLovely piece Grace - all these stories and the (pause) - says so much - how we are paused (not stopped), how we respond - what we delete/save/celebrate - I so liked the last where winter too is paused. Applause.
ReplyDeleteI like the way your focus shifts from lockdown, its restrictions and new normal, to news that finds it way in via the Internet, newspapers, TV and radio. I love the brief glimpse of autumn (just like autumn itself – it came and went so quickly) in the lines:
ReplyDelete‘as yellowing of maple leaves mark
the season change
we (pause)
winter for few days of sun’.
Life is beyond crazy, is it not? You encapsulate it well in the beauty of this poem.
ReplyDeleteLove this especially; "i practice on my readings,
ReplyDeleterounding my voice to bellowing bells applause, applause (pause)-my mind reels back to short dayhours as yellowing of maple leaves mark the season change. Wonderfully deep and evocative write!💝💝
very grounding images and thoughts, Grace. I like your two examples at opposite ends of the social spectrum. I see it isn't just USA that has groups of covidiots, who will now take their spread germs back home to push the #of cases (and deaths) up
ReplyDeleteAttempting to keep our lives as normal as possible is a challenge, but the warm week of Indian Summer was such a welcome blessing!
ReplyDeletePause to enjoy the final days of fall...your yellowing maples are gorgeous! We have inches of snow today.
ReplyDeleteA clean cut dissection of the year ending in brightness. I love the image of golden leaves and the new-found optimism.
ReplyDeleteThat's the second time my comment has disappeared! Strange!
ReplyDeleteYour words echo Kim's though in a different setting. We have shrunk, but the world turns and does what it has to whether we participate or not.
Grace- this is gorgeous!
ReplyDeleteThis is the time when we witness both self-sacrifice and stupidity all rolled into the same wrap... the wrap of Covid-19. We will never be the same. Common sense should rule the day!
ReplyDeleteThis is magical Grace, and big enough to gently embrace our times. Excellent, :)
ReplyDeleteThe little details are what tell the story
ReplyDeleteFrom "as yellowing of maple leaves..." onward just calms me - thank you for that image
ReplyDeleteYou've nailed the lockdown....our living spaces dismembered so to speak. The repetition of "don't lie" is so right on in terms of news in the US. Well done....witness indeed.
ReplyDeleteYou have said captured it well
ReplyDeleteThe (pause) button hit intermittently just accentuates the lengthy lockdown. Brilliantly done.
ReplyDelete