‘Mundane Compliance’ by Eilidh,
Health Records Clerk
Stay at home!
Usually do
now I have to
too tired to do anything else
as the cells in my body
are peculiar
kept in check (shielding me)
with toxicity
and bugs (?)
“not going near that”!
keep their distance
Distance
so used to the gap
between
me
and the rest of
humanity
so a little further
apart…
no change
Save lives!
So I wear a mask
and gloves
doing my weekly shop
hoping others
keep away
Keep away
walk around
quick, quick, quickly quick
until back
behind closed doors
I knit
I crochet
I no longer sing
or play my sax
(protect the neighbours ears
and my tenancy)
and read
in my imagination
I’m in my hermitage
practicing scales
riffs
singing to seals
and sky
growing vegetables
and fruit
being a beachcomber
of sights, smells, sounds
of touch
knitting them
together
not with determined
patience
crocheting them
not in mindful boredom
but
the skeins are taut
I have to loosen
the tension
heartstrings
at breaking point
the mundanity
of loss
mashed down
into another banana bread
another day
another week
where my colleagues
work without me
the NHS staggering on
and me
my injected
protected body
yawns on in
mundane compliance.
