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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those unsanitary days of yore

any hand-washer or hoarder

was deemed to be a victim of

obsessive compulsive disorder

gel meant KY or Vaseline, for

painful episodes down there,

often after inordinately free

bouts of sexy wear and tear

hands red raw from washing,

loft creaks with boxes of SPAM,

DT's swimming through my visor,

gel and tonic beats any dram

...

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Its always the same old story

I meet a woman and we click

We go out for a while and talk

Time seems to go by so quick

After a bit something happens

Signs of unease appear, frowns,

My mask slipped for she's seen

The dark side of my downs

Moods are fatal for couples

You have to banter and smile

Hide the despond with a grin

Play happy families for a while

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She wears sneakers and

Uses the back streets

Dark alleys cover her tracks.

Its like the days of

Prohibition only without the

Tommy guns and as

The first bit in any book on

Economics is

Demand and supply and

They're crying out for her

Services the price is steep.

She sees a police car but it

Zooms off, a false alarm,

This is nerve-racking but a buzz and

She...

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Battle-hardened Sister Yvonne

Missed nothing

Double-checking mask, visor, gown

Everything.

Colleagues, even

Consultants, relied on her to pin-point

Gaps in their armoury.

If anyone was safe from patients

She was.

After her shift last night she

Clocked off and

Walking to her car

Got hit by a taxi taking home a patient.

Reliable to the end

She did not troubl...

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They'd seen each other on the

Tube, followed day after day by glances and

Hesitant smiles and he'd meant to

Make his move

Break the ice but then came

Lock-down.

Now he's mobile again, wondering if

She'll sense the smile beneath his mask

But there's no sign of her

Is she scared to emerge, furloughed or God forbid, sick?

Will he see her again?

Last night he watched T...

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Did old Polly really drop her

Mentholated into my pram or

Was I too young to remember?

If so, why the link with Farley's rusks?

Later, one student summer

At the discount store in the market

I nicked a gross of tins and

It took three weeks to flush away the contents

Without my mother knowing and

One night I gave it a go and sneezed like a trooper yet

It did the trick f...

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