Submit your work, meet writers and drop the ads. Become a member
 
313 · May 2020
Go to your rooms
Daniel James May 2020
Little people of the world,
And particularly those
Who own big spaces
Right at the centre
Of our shared emptiness
It's time to go and have
A long hard think
About what you've done
And what you have become.

This growing debt
This planet's overdraft
Unlocked through lack of planning
Lack of vision - worse -
Through 'knowledge'
And selfish calculation.

Go to your rooms.

Don't come out until you're sorry.
312 · Sep 2019
The whole package
Daniel James Sep 2019
You get a lot of between times
In this life
Bundled in with
The usual highs and lows
They're like the packaging
You unpack when
The real gift arrives -
Not noticing
That these
Unpackagings
These moments
Of unpackaging
These between times
Are life.
Not the holders of life
But life itself -
The stuff we throw away.
257 · Apr 2020
Lockdown
Daniel James Apr 2020
So little to say
So much time to say it
I can't lockdown
A single thought
A butterfly in the garden
A new project lost inside a page
At least I have a garden
At most it's a very...
Loose and gentle house arrest.
I'm under the impression
That we're living through
One of the big moments
But don't worry
We can still get Uber eats
And the weather has been weirdly nice
And zoom isn't quite as good as real life
But it's definitely less effort
And you don't have to shower
Or get dressed much
And it's easier to get to
And easier to leave.
It's a lot like waiting
While pretending
That you're waiting for something.


II
What did you do in Lockdown daddy?
Hmm.
I binged watched a thing or two, I can tell you.
I grew some flowers. Let them grow. Helped them.
Yes I helped some flowers grow. And fruit.
Probably not that much fruit tbh.
I did a few odd jobs online.
I knew what was happening
Before the government admitted it.
But couldn't do much to stop it.
We clapped for the NHS on Thursdays.
At first that was great.
Then they tried to make us do it for Boris
And we all felt a little bit sick inside.
And we wondered why our stats were so bad
I mean why so many people died
Why did we die so much over here
When we'd had a lot of warning
And they'd said that we were prepared
A tsunami of death sweeping through
The care homes like the silence
After a slightly racist joke.
Did someone say herd immunity?
We never did find out why
What with Brexit and
All that blinding light
At the end
Of the
Tunnel
162 · Oct 19
The time
Daniel James Oct 19
Did you come here to pass the time
that would not pass without you?

Did you come here to move the time
that would not be moved without you?

Did you come here to meet the others?
To ask why they were leaving?

Did you come here when summoned
Is that summons what you believe in?

Did you come here of your own free will
before there was a you?

Did you come here from chaos?
Did chaos come from you?

Did you come here to dream a dream
that touched no one but you
And tell no one but always act
As though that dream were true

Did you come here from want or will
And all that came before?

Did you come here not knowing
Did you leave not knowing more?

Did you come here to pass the time
That would not pass without you?

Did you come here to move the time
that would not be moved without you?

— The End —