All this time I've been waiting

Sitting pretty for you

But today has been strange

Panicked, lost and deranged

What is a lockdown?

I've only heard of a knockout

Never mind, you'll all be back in this shop

Money ready with a skip and a hop

I'm the newest thing you know

Laced up, beautiful and ready to go

Talk of the town I will be

When you finally return an...

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no horizon

seas starved sky bleak

abyss where tubed monsters victims seek

thoughts like serpents

regrets black orcs

airless tides of fear where no one talks

scaly remorse

shoals of regrets

but no sane fisherfolk cast their nets

carnivorous,

my flotsam of shame

spins round whirlpools without a name

encased in lead

how can lungs breathe

a...

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I've got entangled in pure mystery

never endured a coquette so lewd,

her words twinkle like spangles but

despite all the glitter she's shrewd

I've come across some fast workers

in moments she had me unzipped

I'm far from a slouch at glib patter

in her sea-soiled face rests a crypt

its like being a drunken fire-eater

on a water-bed playing with fire

I've grow...

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next door they've got new windows

all triple-glazed for noise and heat

hermetically sealed against society

frost and storms designed to beat

yet other enemies will get through

invisible demons with wings of fire

on those panes reflections of one

mountainous molten funeral pyre

coming round but I'll never be right

lungs crackling like broken glass

legs potent...

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never heard her weep out loud before

hard to believe she loves me so much

they called her in for this one last time

no kisses allowed or a hint of a touch

lonely years and empty days before that

vision of blue eyes and short red dress,

the night fate put me on the right path

ending years of drift and its futile mess

takes a lot to kill love but I did my best

pu...

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Such jubilation every time a vessel

debarks a new contingent at the port.

So much relief when loved ones, wrested apart

for long, lone months are free again to nestle 

cheek to cheek, to hug and kiss, to jostle,

guiltlessly mingling among the singing throng,

siblings swinging siblings, making rings

to dance till dawn with no one a virus’ vassal.

Ravenous variants infes...

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it will be good to see Maltese Tony

my long-standing barber of choice

in his salon reeking of peppermint,

a sharp scissors and guttural voice

a noted martyr to his ageing bowels

herbal remedies kept them in check

but Tony's flatulence accompanied

every snip at the hairs of your neck

bravo that regular peppermint peep

sweet breath on your greying locks

the th...

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Empty of its audience, red, plush velvet seats;

Sorrowful, in mourning.

No more echoes of applause,

the opening of a grandeur curtain,

Just a ghostly appearance,

Breathing in the past.

Dusty stage lights,

Cobwebbed orchestra,

Costumes bleeding out their vibrany; silently decaying.

What do you call a stage

without a captivating drama?

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Virus Blues: Removal of the Magnificent

 January 14, 2021.  © Mark, All rights reserved

Suggested limits
for foregone futures,
the virus adaption
of torn open sutures.

Partial containment
while our vulnerable vacate,
the vaccine dilemma,
for the fit to placate.

A lockdown series,
serious intention
twitching behind curtains,
turmoiled perception.

Removal of life
removal of...

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Virus Blues: A Bigley Death Rate

November 20, 2020.  © Mark, All rights reserved

Fallen fallen
so low are we,
as a vindictive little virus
chops down our tree.

The chomping chins
dribble out their spit,
a bigley death rate
says an orange twit.

The homogenised lambast
a terminal bent,
health is now
a simple monetised intent.

Vaccines stab at
our glimmered hope,
who's fir...

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Virus Blues 'We didn't go and run away somewhere'

November 11, 2020.  © Mark, All rights reserved

We didn't go and run away somewhere
just the way we should,
symptoms closer
faster than ever now,
leaking fevered intimate despair.

the grunting of that typical class
deafens the squealing of the sores,
the requiem of the virus boys
stifles the digested stagnant snores.

...

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The World fell silent,

Sombre air began to fill the streets, 

There came an end to social meets.

No more dining and no more celebrations.

Hospital wards filled with a new enemy.

Masks, gloves and sanitation,

Echoed through the news,

Leaving a trail of gloomy blues.

Families gathered for the 5pm broadcast,

Rising death rates leaving them aghast.

But a ray of ...

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I dream of idle chatter

In a bar where nothing matters

Where sweet vibrations beat

In rhythm with my feet

And laughter comes so easy

Conversations light & breezy

Like a languid summers day

Where your mind can drift away

And eyes are full of winks

And lips are full with smiles

And beer flows like nectar

As we dance in different styles:

Some without rhythm

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no hairy lip has she or wrinkle

a far cry from ancient crones

her skin as smooth as marble

sweet melodies in her moans

black cats are always a clue

in the house hers does roam

its carbon eyes following me

at its muzzle flecks of foam

waking last night in terror

to the Devil she's chanting

buck naked and sweating

my blood she's decanting

her eyes h...

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Retraining Bert

Chefing is not what it used to be

His boss called him in and explained.

'We're now on tier 3 says the edict,

and boozers like this have to close.'

'No boss, we're exempt,

like the 'Spoons have been told.

We sell grub and that's kosher

just the ale house is doomed.'

'It won't work like that lad,

the punters are scared.

And I can't serv...

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Your polo shirt is slightly askew.

Eyeliner you try and hide.

My daughter baby’s prime;

we have fought for this.

You now sit in classrooms,

open windows, warmth drained.

Queue, face mask clad, in corridors

dreaming of seeing faces 

The boy you pass notes to

you are no longer free to kiss

or find the ecstasy in another.

Your childhood is on hold.

W...

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I

and I alone

upon my bed of cobbled stone

Ponder

   As my flesh weeps into gravel sheets

I ponder what it must be like

to be whole again

   To feel I had a soul again

This dessicated shell

crumbles like mountain scree

down, down to the hungry, black sea

lapping and licking at the feet of my bed

dragging out, with the tide, 

such meagre light from my hea...

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each day I went for a walk in the woods

with COVID you look after your ticker

you tend to see the same folk each day

they smile as I offer the faintest flicker

I'd copped a wan couple making the circuit

a pair regular as clockwork out every day

then I saw the woman strolling on her own

had her partner upped and gone away?

a week later I caught her eye and stopped

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The pandemic's killing the divorce rate

Those with any sense are not straying

My wayward tendencies are history

These days I spend my time praying

What good is my cute smile anymore?

Why bother all that dressing to impress?

When you're stuck in the house bingeing

How to find someone nice to undress?

When I do venture out a mask is essential

But my George Cloone...

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Confined to a tiny apartment

terrified of a viral threat

she rocks in her chair listening

to voices in the corridor

Who is going out?

To voices in the street

Who are they? Are they infected?

She turned off the TV months ago

when depression became too much to bear.

In the silence she waits

for the danger to pass

listening to the constant

chatter of...

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Our Halloween masks reflected back
as we peer through that dusty glass
into the quiet gloom of the Ghost Café

If only the ghost waitress would take our order
‘large or small?’ she asks, well, I’m a medium
ghost chairs dragged across the ghost floor

And the clank of local steel set down
on delicately painted porcelain
bustling echoes bounce from peeling walls

People starting or resta...

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By ACE8.6

I heard a baby cry today
while I was walking through the park.
The cry was not to get her way
It was strong, insistent, and dark
Was she too hot from the sun’s bright ray?
Was she afraid of the dog’s bark?
Was she demanding she be allowed to play
in the song of the Meadowlark?
This baby cried not for want
This baby cried to warn
And I became the confidant
Of this child wh...

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Ode to Covid Carers.

To intensive care and virus wards each day

In every town they make their way.

Caring souls, disguised in blue and white,

To fight against the Covid blight.

Shift after shift, through night and light

Brothers and sisters of mercy face up to our plight.

Masked, shielded, smocked and booted

lonely, fearful, solely commuted

on the near empty bus and...

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We ask where you came from,

how long do you intend to stay.

You are not welcomed here,

please checkout and go away.

Perhaps you came from a bat,

sold on a market selling meat.

Purchased and ate by a man,

who preferred rare meat to eat.

Maybe you were a vampire,

sustained by the cull of lives.

Could the blood in your flesh,

resist heat and somehow survive.

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Down the corridor, comes a scream
Was it physical pain
or the horror of finally learning
the way this game is turning
They took your clothes
gave you a gown
there was nothing to do but lay right down
Now, the machine breathes
for you
hung by a thread and leaving soon

Faint flashes behind tired eyelids
recalled moments from a busy life;
the night before your wedding
barefoot kisses b...

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