Two Poems

RODDY WILLIAMS

On lockdown

Distancing is nothing new for me
but
this silence
the placid streets taking a unique break
as wildlife confused by emergent quiet
creep from the woods to explore the scene
while we rattle about behind our doors
mollifying sexual frustration
with counting toilet rolls
trying to order bread flour online
despite the fact the shop has everything
but chili sauce

Everyone in the co-op smells of hand sanitizer
like they'd just been taken out of the box
A woman cried because her card
would not go through
but then tried the shop ATM and was redeemed

The sky is vivid virus blue with
not a sign of airplane contrails
doodling
just an empty page

as if the city had been rewound
to factory setting

---

Postcard from home

The enemy is unseeable
If we stay at home he will not find us
We can make papier mâché puppets
and linocuts of ferrets eating at a table
We only need to go out to queue for food

The enemy has taken cash
I can only use a card now and the sky
is full of stars empty of contrails
Goats have taken over Llangollen 

No one is stealing anything
in case the enemy is hiding in the booty
Robbers are at home eating popcorn
watching cop porn

The enemy has turned us mad
made us stockpile toilet rolls
and frozen paella
made us shake hands with our elbows
and stay at home
listening to voices twittering that
it's all a lie

---

roddy williams

Originally from Wrexham, North Wales, Roddy Williams now lives in London. His poetry has appeared in Obsessed with Pipework, Magma, The Rialto, Envoi, Stand, The North, Poetry Wales and other magazines and anthologies around the globe. He holds a BA (Hon) Degree in Illustration and is a keen surrealist photographer, printmaker and portrait painter.