Hugging the harbour wall

Went down to the harbour to pick up a kilo of prawns from the fisher  who was waiting in his van. It's good to eat local  and support local if possible.

Looking for a poem that might suit (not many about prawns!) I found this website which features poems written about the pandemic.

This one by Grace Nichols was written last May and already seems like past history. We didn't imagine then that we would still be in strict lockdown,  listening to a worsening death toll and threatened with new Covid variants, nine months later.

HARBOUR

When it’s all over and hopefully it will be over,
I’ll probably look back and miss
this strange web of our togetherness -

The impromptu arias at windows
and balconies, the orchestras of pots
and pans and hands beating a metronome

Of gratitude to keep airborne
the spirits of our nurses, doctors,
all our care-workers -

The live streaming of ballet dancers
pirouetting trickily around their children,
now like everyone at home -

All the WhatsApp calls and video links
from friends and relatives, my daughters’ faces
surfacing on the small sky of my mobile -

Yes, the virtual world can console.
But watch how easily I’ll trade it -
for the simple harbour of a hug.