Can you make it a little further?
Just to the next bend
Almost home
Mere steps really
Cross the road
Jump the puddle
Past the bins
To the front gate
And through
Can you cross your legs
On the doormat
While I fish for keys
Elusive in pockets
Of tissues and masks
And useless pennies
That nobody takes
Anymore?
Can you keep your cool
Your calm?
Clench and unclench
Fists without disaster
Until I push the door
And you rush past the
Escaping cat
Whose plaintive mews
Mean the feeling is
Surely mutual
One in, one out
To next door’s garden
Trousers down
Flowerbed
Aaaaah… at last!
That’s better!
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Show me a meme
Something droll
Make me laugh
Cringe, groan
Feel something
Other than fear
And that faint sense of
Malaise born of
Too many days
Spent staring at a screen
Show me a meme
I don’t want to think
Of the horrors outside
Of queueing for food
Huddled in coats
Hats, gloves, scarves
Lonely and crowd-shy
Among faceless strangers
Who were once
On neighbourly
Nodding terms
Show me a meme
Bernie’s gloves
A party-favour
Orange forty-five
Something exotic
As new underwear
Pizza and beer
On a cold, wet
Soulless Tuesday
I really don’t care
Show me a meme
Or I will get up
And leave
My cold-coffee cup
On the windowsill
Ice-cream spoon stuck
To the carpet
By your easy chair
Climb the stairs
And head for bed…
Oh, kittens!
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We tried to sell it
Before lockdown really bit
And we found out
Why you’d kept it
All these years
Luckily the bloke
Who said he’d buy it
Never showed up
So when you
Suddenly needed
A way to get
From A to Z
Free of risking
Public transport
There it stood
That rusty heap
Of ancient, recycled
Bits and pieces
Trusty to the end
It only needed
New wheels
Brakes, pedals
A comfier seat
New chain
Central bolt
And eventually
The crossbar snapped
When you met that
Final pothole
Now it sits glumly
In the hallway
Leaning on the
Cranky radiator
Muddying the carpet
While we try to negotiate
The grey market
Of spare parts
Traded online
Fished out of canals
Pinched from passageways
And porches
Hoping for inspiration
To strike twice
And for your Phoenix
To ride once more
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Katherine Shirley 