Published in Poetry Kit's Poetry in the Plague Year Anthology
Blooming gorse (a villanelle)
"When the gorse is not in bloom then kissing is out of fashion."
I cannot see the gorse in bloom.
Is kissing therefore out of fashion
due to lockdown in my room?
The News conveys our global doom.
Because excursions are on ration
I cannot see the gorse in bloom.
Nothing penetrates the gloom.
My eyes are dull, my skin is ashen
due to lockdown in my room.
No bride-to-be can kiss her groom
but likewise I deserve compassion:
I cannot see the gorse in bloom.
I cannot smell the sweet perfume
of gorse (do you not share my passion?)
due to lockdown in my room.
When normal living can resume,
kissing will be back in fashion.
I will see the gorse in bloom
released from lockdown in my room.
"When the gorse is not in bloom then kissing is out of fashion."
I cannot see the gorse in bloom.
Is kissing therefore out of fashion
due to lockdown in my room?
The News conveys our global doom.
Because excursions are on ration
I cannot see the gorse in bloom.
Nothing penetrates the gloom.
My eyes are dull, my skin is ashen
due to lockdown in my room.
No bride-to-be can kiss her groom
but likewise I deserve compassion:
I cannot see the gorse in bloom.
I cannot smell the sweet perfume
of gorse (do you not share my passion?)
due to lockdown in my room.
When normal living can resume,
kissing will be back in fashion.
I will see the gorse in bloom
released from lockdown in my room.
