Poem Of The Week, Week 4: Lockdown by Audrey Ardern-Jones

For our last poem of this week’s Poem Of The Week, we have Lockdown by Audrey Ardern-Jones. This relatable sonnet reflects on the solemn and hopeful moments of lockdown-

Lockdown

It’s Easter week, Holy week, another week

of quiet, no aeroplanes overhead, an empty sky

waiting; days slipping into days in this unique

regime of  silent streets where no-one passes by.

We listen to radios, stroll most mornings;

the dead are counted daily, numbers spin like dice across

the globe - a pandemic in crisis - messages spread

in seconds: words that pool in times of loss.  

In our garden a blackbird sings, his yellow beak

opens wide like a chorister, he loves this calm;

a robin chirps in harmony, multiple magpies shriek

in voices, hey, hey, hey, loud as a burglar alarm.

The world’s on hold, our planet heals, cools down,

we long to dance again - live life in a fancy gown.