Day 81
rain lashed my face
reddened my chapped nose – bruised my enthusiasm
though
i was determined to get out
walk the coastline // feel life in breath again
the golden ‘m’ was relit
a saturated synthetic UFO on a quiet skyline
enshrined by derelict factory units
queues round the block for the drive-thru
young couples
stacked in car-park shelves
feet on the dashboard
lost in the delayed tastes of
our culture
#BLM
scrawled across the sea wall
a message from the centuries
finally reaching home
Day 82
a petite hairline crack
has finally split the foundations
the world is dancing heavy
to protest songs
on worn & bloody feet
the rabbit // eyes bulging as smoking wheels
roll through its tiny life
Boris Johnson’s hair ablaze
with dishonor & defeat
Trump has savaged the dream
& “mob” revolutionaries scarred by the injustices of a bleak history
have surrounded a white house that has
never looked so dark
they keep telling us
this is the new normal this is the new normal
this is the new normal this is the new normal this is the new normal
this is the new normal this is the new normal this is the new normal this is the new normal
this is the new normal this is the new normal this is the new normal this is the new normal this is the new normal
Day 83
my
friend
called today
to tell me that
he’s on prozac for a
while
it’s for the best
i look out at the north star
& the ravens
sweeping the horizon like a besom –
wonder what the world
will look like
when deities
awake //
flip the switch
Day 84
Colston
has been retrieved from
Bristol harbor
Maggie
has her rubber ring on
ready
Boris
has announced social bubbles
to ease lockdown
looking like he got launched
with Colston
the streets
are crying out for company
this life is a china cup
brittle & beautiful & fragile & brief
today
is only one day –
with or without us
there will be more
Paul Robert Mullen is a poet, musician, lecturer, radio presenter, traveler and sociable loner from Liverpool, U.K. He has four published poetry collections: curse this blue raincoat (2017), testimony (2018), 35(2018), and disintegration (2020). He has been widely published in magazines worldwide including The Interpreter’s House, Dreamcatcher, Borderlines and Barren. Paul is the co-founder and editor of The Broken Spine Artist Collective.