Lockdown

 It's an achievement

just getting through another day

but then this is my only life

just leaking away.

Flotsam

A driftwood log far out from shore,

a landgrown thing now lost at sea

as helpless out of element

as you make me.

With others I can chat and joke;

with you I don't know what to say.

The words won't come because you take

my breath away.

So now I wallow in the waves,

floundering where the currents flow

and drift uncaring in these seas

I do not know.

It's not just climate change that we're at war with;

there's so much plastic in the sea'

so many species threatened with extinction

and all because of our fecundity.

We have so many problems to do more with;

no use relying on technology.

It's not enough to save this ailing Earth with -

replacing gas with electricity.

There's only one thing we can still be sure with;

the rest is almost triviality.

It's overpopulation is the problem -

reducing too many people is the key.

Men in shorts

A man in shorts shows summer sense,

gains vitamin D in keeping cool

but men in shorts still in the winter

perhaps lack trousers, train as sprinter

or else just think they're looking cool

when really they lack common sense. 

Adolescence

I didn't talk to you

or touch you for I knew

that if I did the world

would crack and we be hurled

into a sinking sea

to watch each other drown.

Perhaps you dreamed of joy

believing girl and boy

could float on tidal waves

and find a beach that saves.

Now I can't face your free

uncomprehending frown.

Swim Stroke

Who chose such a silly name?

Fluttering used to label strength;

frailty mis-applied to power

plunging headlong down the length.

Surely nature can do better -

some improvement would be 'penguin'.

Or else use 'porpoise'. Why not 'dolphin' ?

Butterflies can't even swim !

A robin flew into my shed yesterday;

it seemed to have little fear.

I bet it's the one built a nest last year

in a cupboard along the passageway.

Today it's searching the border for leaves

to put into a nest box on the fencej

half hidden so showing a bit of sense

in trying to outwit the magpie thieves.

And now I can see another one

creeping up through the undergrowth

and into the box to rate its worth

as a possible summer home to live in.

Presumably it's the first bird's mate

since he's perched nearby just looking on -

oh, now she's sneaking out and -gone !

But maybe I can anticipate

some more activity in the spring

if they choose to bring up a brood -

the adults flying in with food,

the chirping of the hungry nestlings.

I like to feel some sort of connection

with wildlife; doubtless a common trait.

But in this lockdown while we wait

for normal life, it lightens dejection

After watching Bruno v Tyson

I had a peculiar dream

of a party with men and women guests

and some more in between.

And nobody knew who was intersex

but nobody minded telling

and nobody cared yet everyone cared

and everybody was gelling.