Monthly Archives: May 2020

Pandemic Poetry

Pandemic Poetry

Verses obsessed by lowering threat
Invisible menace dominates
A world on the pause button
Imagination shackled by social isolation

Writer’s block ensnares the mind
Creativity contained
In the hard carapace
Imposed by Covid-19

What has happened
To humour,
To levity,
To prospects of delight ahead?

Life reduced to
The daily exercise
The weekly shop
The Zoom communion

But let’s hope
The new normal
Be reinstated to the old normal
And we will emerge

From this viral baptism
Appreciative as never before
Of the company of others
And our common humanity

Then poetry be no longer
Subjugated to the contagion
Once again
Thoughts let off the leash

Ken Fisher

Tattoo That on the Inside of My Eyelids!

Tattoo That on the Inside of My Eyelids!

Have you noticed the tone of the Government’s advice?
As we are kept locked down, as gripped by a vice
Stay Home, Stay Safe, Save Lives we are told
Now Stay Alert, which seems a little less bold

The message declared so many times
To transgress is clearly seen as a crime
No other demand can this call out-bid
Words almost tattooed inside my eyelids!

Each day on TV the officials parade
As if to perform some kind of charade
A Government minister appears on the scene
But peculiarly Boris can rarely be seen

In Scotland Nicola puts on a good show
Presented to us with her usual gusto
In her words some caution can be detected
Perhaps it is better that we Scots be protected

Testing is believed to bring us some hope
With tracking and tracing we will soon need to cope
Such procedures no doubt our lives will surround
Until that illusive vaccine is found

However at Westminster and Holyrood too
A determination to see this thing through
And no matter how we feel of this regime severe
The only choice but to persevere

So check out each day what we are being told
However you feel about this stranglehold
Don your mask, restrict your time out of doors
Stay home don’t be tempted the world to explore

Ken Fisher

Let’s Not Lose the Plot!

Let’s Not Lose the Plot!

Plotholders surely don’t want to lose their allotment
Which despite lots of hard work gives them great enjoyment
No matter the season there is always something to do
Useful tasks keep them busy all the year through

There is no fixed pattern, each will do their own thing
And to their site their bright ideas will bring
Some on the land construct an arable farm
Others think an orchard won’t do any harm!

But most plotholders respond to the challenge
To cultivate the earth maintaining a balance
Between flowers, fruit and veg in varieties galore
For immediate consumption or for winter store

Their hut is vital to the plot’s operation
For storage of tools to avoid transportation
But such cabins are useful for purposes social
To provide a gathering space at one’s disposal

Of course we cannot gather due to covid-19
And right now we hanker for what might have been
Meantime our endeavours are a solo act
As we don’t want to risk our respiratory tract

All plotholders want to preserve the environment
Taking into account all the enlightenment
We have received from those with concern for our globe
The warming an equal threat as that nasty microbe

So let’s continue to enjoy the fruits of the earth
And value our plots for all they are worth
And for natures’ gifts we would all give a thought
Whatever befalls let us not lose the plot

Ken Fisher

Curmudgeons Under Threat

Curmudgeons Under Threat

In the current emergency state
Apparently it’s the fate
Of all the women and the men
Having reached three score years and ten
To limit their mobility
Whatever their morbidity
Because the pundits have decreed
We are too risky to be freed

I don’t think that’s really fair
To be tied to our armchair
Because many are still quite spry
Unprepared to say goodbye
Why force us into jail?
Our activities to down-scale
And while we can still breathe
Don’t present us with a wreath

There is life in the old dog yet
Curmudgeons are under threat
So leave us free to roam
We can find our own way home
All we want is a little space
To wander from home base
A journey without any tension
To the Post Office for our pension!

Ken Fisher

Celebration and Commemoration

Celebration and Commemoration

75 years on
A day of celebration
And commemoration

We celebrate the
End of the War in Europe
And rejoice in peace restored

We commemorate the
Lives all who died
Military and civilian alike
The price of freedom

For many of us
These are distant childhood memories
For the majority, simply history past
But we can pause
And be thankful

And today the living
Face a new and powerful threat
An unseen enemy
Menacing our health
Our wealth, our future

The expeditionary forces
Of science and technology
Mustering to hold the line
And engineer the victory

But for now
We must exercise patience
And perseverance
Until in due time
The adversary is overcome

And victory declared with celebration
As it was 75 years ago

Meantime we commemorate
All the victims of
The battle with Covid-19

Ken Fisher

 

 

Trapped

Trapped

The plight of so many

Locked up in the lockdown
No means of escape

Earnings dropping
Debts are rising

Claustrophobic
Internecine strife

Self-educating kids!
Super-glued to screens

Going nowhere
Isolating, except

Shopping outing
Highlight of the week

The nearest thing
To a masqued ball

Buses empty
Traffic muted

Walkers dance
Around each other

Daily doomsday
From politicians

Old crowded TV sit-coms
Blithely ignoring social distance

Pray for relief from boredom
Overlaid by angst

Let’s hope
We don’t go crazy

Trapped
Midst locked up in lockdown

Ken Fisher

Permitted Perambulation

Permitted Perambulation

Paroled from house arrest
I take my daily walk
Ambling along the paths
Allowing time for thought

Now accustomed to lockdown
New habits have evolved
Each hour is gently filled
And thus the days transformed

No point in being nostalgic
The clock we can’t reverse
Accepting ‘the new normal’
No matter how perverse

As with all life’s transience
This ‘too will pass‘  assured
With patience and acceptance
Our peace may be secured

Ken Fisher