There are many things that can make a person feel
As if they were losing their sanity,
Hallucinating, even
Watching a squirrel fly, for example
Or finding a sledgehammer in Lidl’s random Isle
For some it’s politics,
For others a single noise can drive them crazy
But not for me,
For me a single word does it all,
Lockdown
The idea of it was pleasant at first,
A lengthened holiday,
A chance to relax
But alas, no such luck.
Like the steady drip, drip of water down my face,
Was the torment I endured.
I was cornered, surrounded from all sides,
Attacked first by my family,
Constant intrusions in bottomless Facetimes
Parades around my already tired furniture.
The bed broke first,
The desk was soon to follow.
But it didn’t stop there.
The schoolwork followed suit.
Endless trickles of presentations, word documents and downloads
My computer buckling under the weight of all the storage being prodded for this gluttonous consumer,
213 downloads, 335, 524 and counting.
And then gradually, finally, the eternal Lockdown began to die out
The first time those front doors opened to what left like 100 years in the future,
It was as if the prison bars had been kicked down; we were free
Free to talk, to look at, to even meet other people again!
Free from the torment I had endured
Free to walk the streets without hearing a rendition of ‘Happy Birthday’
I was still alive,
And that felt amazing.
Imogen C
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