Richard Westcott
South Molton, Devon, England, UK

I've been commended and placed in various competitions including the Hippocrates, YorkMix and the Plough, winning the Poetry Society Stanza competition in 2018, and my poems have appeared in all sorts of places including Guernsey buses, a wall in Exeter University and the Pitt Rivers Museum - as well as in more traditional publications. My pamphlet is published by Indigo Dreams and I blog at richardwestcottspoetry.com 

Poem was  completed 18th May 2020

Outside Sainsbury’s

 

I shuffle along like a sheep

not thinking much more

than following others

obeying the lines and the fences.

 

A cough comes from someone.

We each pay attention

just for a moment

then resume our linear progress

 

gradually shifting the weight

in a sort of a walk

without any question

preserving the distance between us

 

moving forwards with not much to say.

New followers join

the straggling line.

Spaced out on this well-trodden track

 

together we make up a flock

on its way to find food

each wanting the same

through the gate that is open ahead.