mask-up friday

the gap between my mouth and the mask is a universe

worlds of difference the space between the epic

and prosaic encompassed in a simple act of placement we

recognise each other by our eyes searching out

meaning in the aisles there's a spanish food promotion

at lidl  my masked nose nuzzling the tins of calamares the

promise of a break from the norm in bright orange tins a

splash of the future as the present eases its weight

slowly on my easily breathing face it's a freedom sorted

into a new neat category the relief of less expression I 

can read so much in your eyes and we recoil from the

unmasked the man in shorts with the Red Hand tattoo

ten tins of shandy there's fresh bread now it's a whole

new subset of inadequacies another toolkit to

riff through to measure peg and not say judge never say 

judge the highest order as ever a rewritten verbal

agreement unspooling before our eyes which say

everything as we wheel and spend through the new world

the best world reducing our calories and shutting our eyes

look away from the adverts keep your breath to yourself

there are salted almonds and stuffed olives and

everywhere everywhere bursts into life