notes to self

1.
you are not the first person
to have had your heart broken

2.
you are not the first
to be cheated on

3.
you are not the first
to wake up with glass inside you

4.
you are not the first
to be paralysed by grief

5.
you are not the first
to be unloved.

pandemic poem

this noose of corona despair
ever-present, like dust in the air,
it sometimes threatens

to drop like a familiar snake, or 
an acquaintance visiting, with
bags and baggage in tow, but I

slip away, quietly, slowly;
pretend there is no one home, I
walk quietly into the garden; I

look around hopefully -
see time greening to life around me; I
sense the clouds moving away

the ground, it stays still; I
stay still with it; ever so slowly, I
grow in gratitude

when I come back in, I
do not touch my face; I
step into the shower, singing.