Rose Drew

York, England

 

Rose Drew is a book publisher and editor (Stairwell Books), a physical anthropologist often writing about those twin 19th century plagues: workhouses and TB, and a performance poet. Rose and partner Alan have hosted long-running open mic night York Spoken Word (lately via Zoom) since January 2006.

 

Poem written 30th March 2020

 

 

Dichten*

 

One month a rumour, the next a plague

 

and like that: life stilled.

Oh, some worked:

at shops

at hospitals

at morgues,

but most sat home,

tangling fingers as they

re-watched the news;

snacking without hunger,

dozing without need.

 

Spring came. Lambs skipped along detouristed hills,

the sky rained, or turned blue; stars

came and went.

We peered between lace

our faces grey in the glaze.

We squabbled over nothing, then forgave

flipped pages in novels, words passing unseen

bulletins crawled along the base of every screen,

blending.

We waited to die,

 

or live.

 

 

*Dichten is Dutch for writing poetry, but can also mean to bung up, clog, plug up, stop up, and to poetize. So take that as you will.