Supermarket
by the bored bard 2020
the food aisles look like long hospital corridors
where we play trolley-dodgems under the bright theatre lights
we masked up like surgeons with psychiatric intentions
our washed hands are now as dry as shiny paper
I see the maskless
a touch of the cuckoo about them?
I can’t help but think that they could be
laying their eggs in other people’s nests
they could be spreaders
for they do not know
the difference between
margarine and butter
the checkouts workers
are safe behind their see through screens
for they operate the clinically clean conveyor belts
they too continually wash their red sore hands
slowly the country reopens
the tourists trickle in
and when they come
and they will come
I pray to god
the we don’t have a second coming
not just yet
all we can do is wait for the “all clear”
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Hi Tony - I ‘liked’ this when you first posted it, as did others - and thought I’d look it up again and venture to comment.
The supermarket-hospital analogy is powerful, and I enjoyed your thought-provoking word-play (spreaders, second coming) - though for me the highlight is ‘masked up like surgeons with psychiatric intentions / our washed hands are now as dry as shiny paper’ - made me wonder if you know Paul Ricoeur’s Theory of Metaphor - it is certainly a ‘semantic clash’ - shocks us into our own creativity.
But tell me - are you looking for feedback/discussion? (If not - sorry!)
Oh just remembered - the English title of the book is The Rule of Metaphor - not theory of metaphor - though that’s what it is!
Hi there thanks for you kind words and feedback. Feedback and discussion is good. I suppose I just wanted to meet up with others who share a love of poetry and writing. I don’t claim to be an expert but I do like to play with words and develop connections with words that strengthen their meanings and to make people think. I originally wrote this back in April. Welcome to my world and do feel free to keep in touch. Tony
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I share your love of poetry and writing Tony, and would encourage you to post more.
I taught literature in my younger days, first in a school, then a university (Keele, where among my colleagues were several published poets such as Roy Fisher and Richard Godden) - I also once set up a bookshop and publishing business, and organised readings with some very prominent poets - I have nice signed books by the likes of Roger McGough, etc…
I used to write poetry myself, but over the years this took more and more of a back seat to the technical writing I was paid to do - though I like to think my general skills as a wordsmith continued to play a part even in writing dry technical guides!
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