Love In The Time Of Coronavirus No. 2

Meals: cooked. Clothes: washed.  Plans:
squashed. But shirts dry in the sun.
Yes, the sun shines, even at a time like this.
And the two of us continue to laugh, hug, kiss

and get a little irritable. Something new:
my back aches now. It never used to!
We phone. Write emails. Send texts
and worry about what might happen next.

We catch up on TV (Killing Eve, Mum, The Crown)
and find old films to watch again (Moonrise Kingdom,
The Sting , The Dressmaker, Lost In Translation
starring Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansonn).

We read.  Me: ‘Emergency Kit: Poems for Strange
Times’ edited by Jo Shapcott and Matthew Sweeney.
She:  ‘Educated’ by Tara Westover.
There’s a picture of a young girl on a swing on its cover.

We check the online news. We slip out
when no one else is about.
We hold gloved hands when we walk.
We breathe in deeply. And talk. And talk.


Love In The Time Of Coronavirus No.1