Lockdown - Day #1

And so the lockdown has arrived... finally.

The reason for saying finally is not specifically a criticism of the current half-arsed communication strategy of a leaderless government. Their venal nature can and will be unpicked over the next few weeks. No, the reason for saying finally is that I felt this coming.

I've long had an intuitive streak and about 18-30 months ago I felt that the normal vision of the future was narrowing. I couldn't see beyond my birthday in December 2019. In part this can be put down to the story I was told by my maternal grandmother: All members of my paternal family died from heart-attacks around the age of 56. Now despite the evidence of my own father lasting to the age of 77, it was something that hovered around in my hyperactive subconscious. Anyway, the final day came and went but the feeling of a horror persisted.

The bushfires that had pretty much suffocated Sydney, finally died down but there was still an aspect of suspended belief that permeated conversations. Something else was on the way.

I wrote a poem in 2017, that was published in December 2018 (Soul Bay Press)....

The Quickening
As the sun gets brighter (still)
the dogs will start leaving home
cats will just disappear
melting back into the forests
the sky will be black & white with magpies
wild Dazzle ships in flight...
all trying to avoid the final closing down sale
the ultimate fight, the ultimate showdown,
the greatest, the biggest, the boldest
the play-off winners mega grand-final, year-end of, best ever everything must go
limbs raising to the skies
everyone must go
this week,
next week,
the week after
still feeling weak after
The ultimate The final The last
Accelerate BABY! Grow
build more, faster, higher quicker stronger big sale, BIGGER,
the quickening is coming
even the ghosts are leaving town...
all the little Samsung babies wrapped tight in their digital homes looking backward sideways upwards in praise of their head dip phones brimming with red-eyed withdrawal

the desolate stares of Microsoft clones mumbling everywhere everyday
constantly burning beyond the bounds of light empty energy of dead candle flicker
there are no more shared midnights the quickening is coming
there are to be no more goodnights
even the ghosts are leaving town...

From 'Sunflower eclipse over Troia Nova' by Andrew Franks