Postcards from Malthusia DAY THIRTY-THREE: Sue Burge

With Love from Lockdown 

 

I think I may grow to love this place

like a groupie with Stockholm Syndrome.

See how the pond thickens with spawn,

how the frogs’ roiling orgy creates

the slow TV of full-stop to comma.

         I think the spiders will multiply now

         surprised by our sudden stillness

         wanting to fill our cleaned corners

         with their mysteries.

I think there are underground movements

we have yet to discover

sly mobs waiting to rise

and scooter around our naivety.

         I think I will make nettle soup,

         catch them young, it will last

         for days, coating my cold

         redundant tongue.

I think all the dogs are twitching

through anxiety dreams

where they wake up and there’s no-one

to throw their spitty balls.

         I think the stars can see us again

         or rather, we can see them,

         or so we think, long-dead blinks

         in the newly night sky.

I think I’ll learn to breathe easy again

step out and part the air like Moses;

one day there will be safe passage.

         I think the road markings will be next to go,

         that the verges have always known how to creep

         blade by blade.

 

 

 

Sue Burge is a freelance creative writing and film studies tutor based in North Norfolk.  Her first collection, In the Kingdom of Shadows, (Live Canon 2018) and debut pamphlet Lumiere (Hedgehog Poetry Press) both came out in Autumn 2018.  Her poems are widely published in journals and on-line.  More information at www.sueburge.uk