Wednesday 19 August 2020

Lockdown Haiku by Philip Harvey

In August the Poetry Workshop at the Carmelite Centre practised haiku. Participants produced poems which were then discussed in the group online. Here are the haiku by Philip Harvey. Philip titles this series ‘Seventeen Signs’, seventeen 17-syllable lines using public lockdown signs in italics.

 

winter sunrise

   play area closed

plane flight a pastime of the past

 

the working week again breakfast

   take away only

online headlines

 

woman alone on train alone

   stay home save lives

on her phone alone

 

morning magpies

   one point five metres apart

peck for nature strip worms

 

wide blue sky

   thank you for your understanding at this time

 empty road

 

once quick brown stick went

   click and collect

 in the maw of the jaw-drop dog

 

carpark vacant grids

   storewide reductions

carpark line ups with symptoms

 

holdups at the bank

   please wear a face covering

speechless in small groups

 

chairs stacked lights out

   thank you for dining in with us

 bain-marie deep cleaned

 

leaves curl in the wind

   follow directional arrows

assemble rest

 

computer non-stop verbals

   face masks required

its fingertip worlds

 

highway with nobody

   shop capacity is eight

apartments of one

 

they glow in the day

   wash your hands regularly

they glow in the night

 

winter sunset

    sorry we’ve had to close again

night a place to dream

 

staring at the known world

    for more information visit

 knownworld dot com

 

curfew etiquette

   keep your distance where you can

you and the gatepost

 

heavy rain

   your wellbeing is our priority

trees take hits

 

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