A Pandemic Poetry Partnership

Today I’m delighted to host not one but two jointly composed poems from Barrie Kemp and Francis McDonnell, fellow members of Poetry-ID, from their recently published collection A Pandemic Poetry Partnership.

A Period of Lockdown

5.4.20 – 12.4.20 : Italics – McDonnell, Plain – Kemp

Let me compare this to a time of war
Of courage, of cowardice, in days of yore.
When battles were won and lives were lost
And there was a great economic cost
But we’re all now enlisted unlike then
They enemy unseen and yet within.
Confined to our houses, barges, and flats
Should we be scared of our far-roaming cats?
We pray for Boris – on oxygen now
Wet with sweat, on his brow
And Raab becomes the primus inter pares.
We shall have to listen to what he says
The Queen’s speech inspires us to do our part
Praise the NHS! Our nation’s heart!
Give thanks to our local heroes
Those holidaying are now our zeroes
Don’t picnic though the weather’s nice
Stay at Home! Is the daily advice.
When walking keep two metres apart
To always achieve this is quite an art
So far science does not recommend face-masks
For those being selfish at the supermarts
So grab those eggs for Easter Sunday
For the virus doesn’t mean God’s gone away!

Springtime For Aspies in Covidland

29.7.20 – 19.8.20: Italics – John, Plain – Paul

For most people Covid causes a fright
But for Aspies it’s a time of delight
Time for less social communication
That can lead to personal confusion
And what little they have is more online
Which is easier for them so they’re fine
Time to concentrate on obsessions
Be it birds, stamps, or calculations
Or maybe doing up some property
Or having ideas in astronomy
Aspie is often linked to XY
But there are girls who identify
Composing and playing music delights
Many an Aspie on their indoor nights
Many with a tell-tale ‘spiky profile’
Join ASPIE club with a knowing smile
For being with like minds soothes the soul
And is no doubt a worthwhile goal
For we all want to be accepted
And our Aspies are not excepted

The Covid outbreak and subsequent Lockdowns saw bursts of national and international creativity whilst most of the world’s population stayed at home, to reduce the spread of the unknown effects of the virus. In the case of McDonnell and Kemp, two poets based in Luton, Bedfordshire, it was less of a burst and more of a trickle.  Their topical and insightful poems were composed by ’email correspondence’; twice- or thrice-weekly exchanges of rhyming couplets that gave rise to sonnet-length and beyond poems.  Often humorous, sometimes sad, but always at the quill-cutting edge of poetical journalism, their exchanges lasted for over a year.  The collection of seventeen has been published under the title ‘A Pandemic Poetry Partnership’ by Kindle Direct Publishing (ISBN 979 835 597 5692)

Village Voices

I’m proud to be part of a new anthology, Village Voices, published by Maytree Press and compiled by Kathy Trout (see my previous blog post!), the indefatigable chairperson of Marsden Community Poetry. The anthology contains over 100 poems with a wide range of styles and themes, and also some fine artwork. In the words of Michael Stewart, Reader in Creative Writing at the University of Huddersfield: “Poems that span across age and time, encompassing the local and the global. Such a range of expression, and yet the poems in this collection are united in their energy and innovation; each poem encapsulating a feeling, a moment, an experience, with precision and aplomb.”

I thought I’d share this poem of mine from the anthology:

Chief Executive

How brave, how strong he is, they said,
unswayed by sentiment, never scared
to take the hard decisions.
And when I saw the carnage that he left
– careers ended with a word,
communities gutted and left to die –
I too could only marvel how he
steeled himself against such pain.

But as I came to know him, I could see
he has no need to do so.
Each round of cuts, each sacking
leaves no mark on him, except a
little smile of satisfaction,
having trimmed the bottom line.
He feels no pain that’s not his own,
knows no value that is not for him.

He lacks a sense most of us have.
I might feel sorry for him, but
he is fortunate in his deficiency:
others must fight to bend the world
around their disabilities.
His lets him blunder round it unperturbed:
a blind, deaf man, driving his bulldozer
through crowds of screaming people.

****

If you wish to purchase one or multiple copies of Village Voices (it is a 190 page book for £12) please email Kathy Trout at marsdencommunitypoetry@gmail.com

Every Breath You Take

I’m pleased to host a piece of flash fiction here today, from fellow Meltham Writer Kathy Trout.

Every Breath You Take 

Thick immovable mucus blocks his lungs, every breath-take an oxygen-lack nightmare. It’s a heavy burden for an 8 year old lad, yet he remains cheerful, sociable and loves to play ball in the garden.

He’s admired for his upbeat attitude, a comedian, always playing the fool, wants to be on TV.

His mother fantasises he’ll break the pre-ordained, short-life-towards-death rule. The pharmaceutical giant refuses an NHS deal; treatment costs are prohibitive.

“Throw me a lifeline mom, I want to be a Lifesaver”. The ball is the best she can do. She cries. 

***

Kathy Trout is Chair of Marsden Community Poetry.  Her favourite food is marmalade, and her favourite place the jungles of Belize.