Poetry*

* I am not a poet

locked in lockdown

Back when Covid was an immediate threat

(as opposed to now, where it lumbers in the background

like a serial killer in part seven of a franchise

still deadly, but a bit blah)

We received the Ping of Panic

My young daughter exposed in school

Our first real possibility of plague...

judgement

I know that I should be kind

Judgement is never beneficial

I only see this snapshot

I don’t know about the rest of your day

Or week

Or life

overshare

It always starts with a simple greeting

A chance encounter, a random meeting.

I’m never that interested in your day.

It’s just a politeness I’m inclined to say.

I’m not after details, I don’t really care.

But my smile is enough to trigger an overshare.

Undersmile

“Gaping”

is not a word you want

linked to your perineum

The stitches had unravelled

as quickly as my preconceived ideas

of motherhood

overshare

It always starts with a simple greeting

A chance encounter, a random meeting.

I’m never that interested in your day.

It’s just a politeness I’m inclined to say.

I’m not after details, I don’t really care.

But my smile is enough to trigger an overshare.

Undersmile

“Gaping”

is not a word you want

linked to your perineum

The stitches had unravelled

as quickly as my preconceived ideas

of motherhood

the day i saved the street

I see from our garden

The glowing stick flicked

From a passing car window

It smoulders in the road

A string of smoke snaking

My young eyes growing wide

In alarm

deck the small talk

I hold my cards close to my chest

Each facet of who I am

Hidden from you.

To play them would take energy.

A gamble on whether they match

Your suit.

a mental load

The toilet is a safe space where I channel air soundlessly

An absent wail as hot drips dab my thighs

I can keep my tap running for a little while in here

(They’ll think I’m having a poo)

painful pictures

I stare at your photos

Beach holidays and

Swimming pools

Healthy smiles

Scattered through family gatherings

Your eyes do not betray any knowledge

Of what’s to come.