Memoira Magazine: ‘hindsight is 2020’
You can find my poem ‘hindsight is 2020’, which I created by rearranging fragments of news headlines collected over the course of two months in 2020, in the new issue of the wonderful Memoira Magazine alongside some fanatstic art by Lowkira.
hindsight is 2020
I.
tiptoe into a world of masks
lambing season in full flow
cocooning
posting riddles outside
raise a glass
limit Brits to three pints.
children run free
after it was deemed unlawful
city on the edge
tide turning
the pinnacle of storytelling
not how we imagined it
energy is poised to eclipse
tycoon tops
polyglot pharmacist
obvious gaps
– hope falters.
II. The Long, Unhappy History of Working From Home
paint, pallets and a chicken coop
‘your art doesn’t have to be good’
the dark side of the video call boom
bleach suggestion: face minimal questions
there is a tomorrow and it looks a lot like yesterday
why do we remember
completely hollow
black hole shock
how much of your body is actually you?
same litter,
you wake and you’re a complete wreck –
fraying at the edges
mulling a more gradual exit.
III.
bear breaks into cabin
becoming homeless is easily done
the mystery of drifting magnetic pole
doom and gloom for travel
what are the perils and the pitfalls?
lift-off, as it happened:
tries to escape default
getting trapped in a ‘bubble’ of old, dull friends
café society spills onto Paris cobbles
Post Confinement commute
left nail traps at beauty spots
a paradise for disaster
IV. now is the time
V. wrath of a wounded city
VI. shows its cracks
VII. she will never see her daughter grow
red, amber or green
trooping the colour
march for change –
hero of protests,
artful dodger,
burdened by throne
as he opposes the police
like him or loathe him
‘you have to take action’
enter through the backdoor
No More Lynching!
VIII.
the pandemic isn’t over – – –
vaccine rally falters,
and freak snow stopped cricket.
IX.
summer solstice, crystal clear
once ostracised
roped off to ensure distancing
– don’t count on it.
huge, jagged hailstones lash
as people flock to beaches
what is the cost of winning?