What If It Took Me

What if it was me struck down with this terrible virus?

If I had the relentless cough,

the loss of taste and sence smell...

What if it was me feeling very, very unwell?

What if it was for me the 999 call was made?

If I had to be rushed to hospital by ambulance,

blue lights flashing and sirens blaring...

What if it was me who was slowly loosing consciousness?

What if it was for me; drips and ventilators were being readied?

If I was rushed straight through A+E,

If it was me who was causing the doctors great concern...

What if it were for me a place in intensive care was being found?

What if it was for me all the technology was being prepared?

If I was in a hospital bed being tended to by 6 or 7 nurses,

busying themselves around me...

What if it was because of me everyone wore protective clothing?

What if it were me who could only lye there and hear it all going on around me?

If I were lying there unable to speak,

unable to move...

What if I were clinically dead?

What if I lost 4 weeks of my life because of being sedated?

What if they said I'd recover but never be the person I was again?

What if I got 'Long Covid' and all those terrible symptoms never really went away?

And what if I never recovered?

What if all the efforts of all those nurses and doctors were in vain?

What if it took me?

(Haiku)

Bloody computers

hey! You can't live with them and 

you can't live with them!

Comfortable in Their Own Skin

Who is comfortable in their own skin right now?

Not women,

not 'Black', 'Asian' or 'Latino' people,

nor LGBTQ+ people.

I'm a middle aged,

non mesoginistic,

husband,

father of 4 children,

2 of which are girls,

white,

comfortable, 

middle aged man...

...and I'm not!

(Haiku)

You are you. I don't 

know anyone who can be

'you' any better!

50 Years Ago I Was At School With You

Who would have thought we'd send spaceships across the vast emptiness of space,

and that my mum would have died.

Who would have thought we'd have the internet,

and that I would have four children.

Who would have thought we'd have damaged our planet so badly,

and that I would become an artist.

Who would have thought we'd have small communication devices to carry in our hands,

and that I would suffer from depression,

and talk about it on them.

Who would have thought we'd have a pandemic,

and that I would write poetry.

Who would have thought that every house would have a computer,

and that a packet of fags would cost fifteen quid,

and that we'd still be drinking coca cola,

and we'd have lockdowns and have to wear masks,

and that Woolworths would have closed,

and that the city would have a top flight rugby team,

and that our TV signals would come from outer space...

and that it was 50 years ago I was at school with you...

and that I'd be 60 this year...

who'd have thought it!

(Haiku)

Flakes of snow caught in

beams from car headlights; swirl in

early morning gloom.