It is the dawning of the age of the introverts...

[Emily Bronte]

thanks so much everyone for coming by. The fluff really keeps me going.

I've started working my way through others' threads to catch up. More there to come.

Two going up today as I am ALSO catching up on poems!

[Emily Bronte]

In the Dark

I'm straining to see my hand
in front of my face. Instead
of remaining neatly contained
within the chamber of my pen
blackness surrounds me.
Where is the light at the end
of the tunnel when you need her?
The Evening Star. A guide. First light.
Even if she's hidden by clouds
you know she's there.
The gleam begins within.

[Emily Bronte]

Survival Guide

Don't look at the death tolls.
Do one task at a time. Eat something
whether you feel like it or not.
Grab the hour and ride it
to the next when you're too tired to walk.

[kult]

Hi Emily

Airborne - I envy the birds too, the balcony becoming your universe and the surreal nature of this whole crisis is captured. I'm totally with you on renovations, in fact I was planning some and put it on hold, now all the little things are truly bugging me, can't wait to get to a DIY store once we're back outside.
Public Service Announcement is amusing, and the govt with it's 'very clear messaging' yep, clear as night. Cathartic poem of the ****show that is our 'leadership' in the UK. Survival Guide - yes, that first line is so sharp and an apt reminder.
Stay safe and keep writing
Thanks for sharing
K.

[Emily Bronte]

Thanks very much Kult. Will be getting around to your thread soon

[Emily Bronte]

Strategy

Every time I look over the edge
of the curve and try to visualise
a future I see a cliff in the rain
and I can only desperately cling
to the side, grasp nettles and bushes,
grit my teeth, and hang on.
One minute at a time.

[alondra]

Agreed, Emily - there are lots of nettles and bushes around just now, but maybe writing these things is one of our best strategies now.

[M]

Mari,

Survival Guide and Strategy are inspiring. Yes, self care, don't quit. Take it hour by hour, or, as Strategy would escalate it to, minute by minute.

M.

[oldman]

Strategy

Every time I look over the edge
of the curve and try to visualise
a future I see a cliff in the rain
and I can only desperately cling
to the side, grasp nettles and bushes,
grit my teeth, and hang on.
One minute at a time.

L1 - breaks nicely with "edge"
L2 "curve" is ambiguous, which is good. Not sure "visualise" works with "a future".
L3 "a cliff in the rain" does a wonderful job of creating a sense of precariousness/suspense
L4 timely
L5 Some irony here as "nettles" become a source of hope for survival, rather that a nuisance

Finishes well, I would have gone with "moment" instead of "minute". Maybe.

I enjoyed this - thanks for posting.

[Scrow]

Strategy

Every time I look over the edge
of the curve and try to visualise
a future I see a cliff in the rain
and I can only desperately cling
to the side, grasp nettles and bushes,
grit my teeth, and hang on.
One minute at a time.

Hi,
This works really well for me - in my reading 'the curve' refers also to the various data mappings of the various datasets around coronavirus but the point isn't laboured, which adds to the impact. The concrete, painful imagery around grasping nettles and hanging on works really well on a visceral level.

Keep going, this is good work.

Sarah

[kristalynn]

Strategy describes this time very, very well.
And, "grab the hour and ride it" is something I feel like I can say to myself and turn to during times of stress.

[PClem]

Flyby between work cases:

Airborne - yep, this pretty well nails the current situation.
Renovations - the things we obsess about when we shelter at home, eh? Love the revenge of the wood floors on the recalcitrant carpet.
Things Fall Apart - From lamentation to rueful acceptance to alternative (fantasy) lifestyle, all in a few lines.
Survival Guide - Last two lines are great.

[Crashed_Pilot]

Hi Emily,

Heartening to find you wrestling with many of the same questions and worries that I do in these poems.

'In the Dark' has an striking final turn - the star that we look for in the sky is actually "within". I like this as a twist, following the sense of encroaching, smothering darkness in the lines leading up to it.

'Survival Guide' is starkly real in its concerns, and "Grab the hour and ride it" is excellent advice - time as a runaway horse or train that you can only hang onto.

'Strategy', similarly, sounds a familiar note, with a strong central image. "One minute at a time" is often the only way to play it.

[BrianIsSmilingAtYou]

Emily Bronte

Things Fall Apart - quoting Achebe quoting Yeats. A meditation on loss and escape in the age of COVID
In the Dark - this works well as a companion piece to the prior one. The sense of loss here is made concrete in the first lines, and continues, with an appeal to hope.
Survival Guide - a message that proclaims the need for simplicity, persistence, self-care
Strategy - wonderful metaphor "a cliff in the rain"

Keep writing!

BrianIs AtYou

[JFN]

Ah, Mari, we are doing a whole lot of DIY and gardening at the moment. It is good to see opportunity instead of negatives.

Public Service Announcement has some great ideas in it. Our government has finally come through with something pretty clear, but they did take their time. Happy to see we're not alone.

Things do fall apart, the trick is not to fall apart with them. To throw it all away and find a quiet secluded space of your own seems the right attitude right now.

The gleam begins within is a lovely way to end a poem about the current darkness that seems to about. I like the image of ink from the pen and flooding the world with darkness.

Survival Guide sounds about right; especially the bit about eating.

Got to flatten that curve. I like the use of the data graphs to reflect N's outlook. Oddly though, at this stage, a cliff edge down would be a wholly positive thing as far as the data goes. Still, the image of hanging onto that cliff edge is a good one.

Keep them coming,

John