Poems and ponderings on the health crisis that hit the world in early 2020.
Submitted by Janine on
What if I can't stand the train
without the carriage to myself?
What if I can't stretch and strain
to reach up to the luggage shelf?
What if all the outside seats
are taken and the queue's too long?
And I don't recognise the streets
and can't see left or right or wrong?
Submitted by Janine on
Day 1 confined to room - no going out
Day 2 do push-ups, Netflix, clean the floor
Day 3 phone friends and scrub the tiling grout
Day 4 a breakfast bag outside the door
Day 5 phone friends and tell them how I'm feeling
Day 6 lean out the window for some air
Day 7 sit-ups, Netflix, clean the ceiling
Day 8 phone friends to tell them I still care
Submitted by Janine on
Boris is sorry - deeply sorry -
for every life that's been lost
Johnson is worried - deeply worried -
about the political cost
He takes responsibility - full responsibility -
for all of the government's actions
Johnson is possibly - in all probability -
counting financial transactions
Submitted by Janine on
It's Thursday evening, eight o'clock, no sound
No passing cars or footsteps on the ground
No pots or pans or cheering to be found
As nobody is clapping this time round
When this began, we clapped them off to war
Then came reports that we could not ignore
Low pay, long hours, no P.P.E. in store
Now no-one claps for carers any more
Submitted by Janine on
China jails citizen journalist for Wuhan reports
Four years in jail for citizen reporter
Who spread the news from virus-struck Wuhan
Her mother cries in court to lose her daughter
She showed the world the sickness, did Zhang Zhan
So ominous the charges that they brought her
For breaking China’s free expression ban
Their stricken morals under smoking rubble,
‘Picking quarrels and provoking trouble’
Submitted by Janine on
On 27 September 2020, Janine Booth broadcasted an hour-long show on Facebook Live, tackling the two biggest issues of the year: the coronavirus pandemic and police brutality.
Submitted by Janine on
Stick that needle in my arm
And get me safe and vaccinated
Hush the waves of false alarm
Stick that needle in my arm
Protect the herd from virus harm
Stay cool and keep refrigerated
Stick that needle in my arm
And get me safe and vaccinated
Submitted by Janine on
It looks as though the lockdown
is going to end in tiers
For while we count the clock down
it looks as though the lockdown
is ending with a knockdown
of haircuts, meals and beers
It looks as though the lockdown
is going to end in tears
Submitted by Janine on
Letter published in Solidarity 567:
The editorial of Solidarity 566 rightly called for a big expansion of public-sector jobs to tackle the Covid-related economic crisis, through both the creation of new jobs in existing public services and through nationalizing corporations that threaten job cuts.
Submitted by Janine on
Five Leaves Bookshop hosts Janine reading her poem, Stay the Fuck Home, which features in the anthology, Coronaverses: poems from the pandemic.
