No PPE your voice to mask.
And should you question, they will say
that ‘now is not the time to ask’
how duty to protect lost track
of plague we knew would come one
day.
Here’s PPE, your voice to mask.
Where are the tests and staff we lack?
Is there oxygen enough to share?
No, now is not the time to ask.
Stay home and ‘take it on the chin’,
watching appalled from your
armchair
with PPE your voice to mask.
Be in the herd, get daily
spin.
Let clapping cover up the lies,
for now is not the time to ask.
What is the plan to be supplied?
How many more must breathless die?
Though PPE our voice may mask,
it’s now – not later – time to ask.
iv. 2020
Rudimentary it may be, but pleasing to bring a villanelle (of sorts) to fruition for the first time. Certainly it's a form that suits political content, but difficult to rhyme - strictly speaking each tercet should follow an A-B-A pattern with A-B-A-A for the final quatrain. But, hey, I wanted to pull something together quickly for a planned spoken word event; also to post while the issue was current, so take it or leave it.
ReplyDeleteRapidly done but straight on the button! Mark well done! I will share this if you don't mind:)
ReplyDeleteThat must be one of your quickest compositions. Easier, I guess, when it comes straight from the heart.
ReplyDelete