Caring for Keats During the Pandemic
We’d put fairy lights in your room, so you’d
feel better; and we’d think of you, always, also
because Mind says it’s a mental health emergency.
You could do podcasts and poetry readings when
you’re bored, and finish your Goodreads challenge
of two-eighty-three books in twenty-twenty-one;
and when we’d meet, every three hours – or when-
ever – our faces sticking to our screens on Skype,
you’d quote a different poet every time, tell us
what you think of the world. And every time
we’d tell you, despite all the doors between us
you are never, never alone.
feel better; and we’d think of you, always, also
because Mind says it’s a mental health emergency.
You could do podcasts and poetry readings when
you’re bored, and finish your Goodreads challenge
of two-eighty-three books in twenty-twenty-one;
and when we’d meet, every three hours – or when-
ever – our faces sticking to our screens on Skype,
you’d quote a different poet every time, tell us
what you think of the world. And every time
we’d tell you, despite all the doors between us
you are never, never alone.
Labour
At birth, we were blunt / which was actually
sharp / and mouldable
and that is where it all went wrong--
there were efforts made and
success found in building out of us
things that everyone — but we — would like
building out of us
things more acceptable / more
palatable / and more of what would
be understandable — it was
like the world didn’t trust itself to know what
a child means
that if a child couldn’t work
in translation the meaning would be
lost / as if translation
were the only way to preserve what mustn’t
be lost--
sharp / and mouldable
and that is where it all went wrong--
there were efforts made and
success found in building out of us
things that everyone — but we — would like
building out of us
things more acceptable / more
palatable / and more of what would
be understandable — it was
like the world didn’t trust itself to know what
a child means
that if a child couldn’t work
in translation the meaning would be
lost / as if translation
were the only way to preserve what mustn’t
be lost--
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Jayant KashyapJayant Kashyap is the author of a few things, including a zine, Water (Skear Zines, 2021). His work appears in POETRY, Magma, Poetry Wales and elsewhere.
Social Media Handle (everywhere) // @jaydkash Website // giantketchup.wordpress.com |