2020 Covid-19 Memories

Chris McKinnell, Lady Road Allotments

Blue
 
I look up at the endless empty sky
and think about the deep blue ocean
up there.
Where once planes flew
so easily,
like wandering albatross.
In truth
more like flocks of migrant birds -
gannets, gulls,
purposefully moving
from continent to continent,
ceaseless trails and sonic waves.
Now it's like the Before time.
I look up into endless evening air -
two swifts
soaring, scissoring,
cleaving the high blue ocean,
voices jubilant:
The sky is ours,
they cry,
The sky is ours!

Green
 
green:
unfolding, unfurling,
lengthening, deepening,
enfolding, enveloping.
blue-green, grey-green,
olive, lime-green, emerald.
energy:
earth, sun, water, air.
leaf, root, juice, heat.
the bare bones are clad again,
the deep veins pulsing,
green again, green again.