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Steve Page Jun 2022
You didn’t realise just how easy
it was to slip
how you can lose track
lose count and how quickly
a habit can become addictive

Once you get the taste for the hit
you find yourself reaching for it
and before you know it, you’ve slipped
into a dependency - fortunately
this time you’re only a *****
for Lemsip
been full of flu these past few days - honey with lemon Lemsip hits the spot
Lizzie Bevis Jan 30
This morning brings another count
of ailments that have attacked me,
as viral matter drifts unseen in the air
impossible to keep track of.

The mirror shows my tired face,
so pale and paper-thin,
while symptoms wear my body down
and make my poor head spin.

I am too weary now to catalogue
each ache, each pain, each sigh;
The simple truth is all that's left
and I'm barely getting by.

This not-so-wonderful existence
drags its feet along,
my routine is all out of tune,
as I snuffle a half-forgotten song.

I'm death warmed over, so they say
though warmth feels far away,
as I shiver through the unbearable hours
of yet another long and miserable day.

©️Lizzie Bevis
I started writing this a week ago when I was unwell with the flu.
I spent today fine-tuning it and I think that it is good enough to share...but I'll keep my germs to myself!

I'm beginning to feel much better :)
T R Wingfield Mar 2024
Hark and Come Hear Ye Here
Ye loyal subjects of the king
Reports from the borders of our principality
warn of a gruesome pestilence spreading unseen,
This devilish scourge of affliction is Coming!
Beware of the telltale signs of corruption
In the countenance of those under siege of this heretofore unknown malady.
It has been documented
by trusted physicians that certain aspects of one’s physiology
Will present themselves shortly
before the fever of madness and fear
Takes control.
Take Heed of thy neighbors
Behaviors and be wary of
Changes occurring in regards to
Their normal routine.
If boils or bleeding of orifices be
Witnessed report the citizen to the nearest authority
Once the outward expression of the putrification is upon them, it is but a fortnight until they succumb to the terrible fate of mortality. Those most beset by the pox of this plague are without exception in a state of aggravated nervous disorientation. Keep safe, keep your distance, and warn others around you of such individuals afflicted, lest ye contract the pox, for there is as yet no alchemical remedy

Be wary of these ghouls wandering the streets
Muttering manically, wreaking of decay, flailing and gnashing their teeth in a rage.
If one of the accursed creatures approaches, It is a mortal encroachment ye must evade.
Make right with the lord and keep the faith, our souls stand for judgment, ensure yours will be saved.

Take heed of these warnings here given this day.

They are not to be ignored if you wish to survive
12-27-23

For decades I’ve had this internal fantasy that I’m a bearer of the plague, not necessarily patient zero but one of the early infected, a vector of an unknown catastrophe. I got really sick. This was a fun thing. (Not being sick, writing a silly poem)
SelinaSharday Nov 2023
Crumbling.. changing, stumbling.. aware of..
the unattended now cold non brewing..
Sadness creeping..
Feelings of.. turning..
As I 'm searching sources of it..
Heartaches..
ahh ah ha.. There..
seems the warmth has no care.
Room check, maintenance request in room 5..
Heart chamber.. Private Estate.. wayside.
****.. it.. ok..
No quick fix..
without admit..
So yeah.. slow brewing storm.. of pain...
No fun.. no at ease..
no its coldness...On my sleeve.. sorry .......
@Me.._You..
Even a cold coffee of brew..
Including a cold *** of stew.
Sad cold.. turning to symptoms of flu...


By @Shardayes Poetry Room..
11.28.23
Ssdly brewing cold stew heartaches and the flu
neth jones Mar 2021
I discharge ;
   a laugh without kindle
(not from the origin of tune
         and mastication)  
from an orifice of wound

a hack of mushroomy dry fleck :
the taste touches the back of the airways
  and takes to the brain in an ail

    ideas slurry
my actions blur
I fumble about my living space
my balance
        pained ears
fall to floor
      an ug at the back my throat
I laugh from all fours
    vision reddens
unhinged at the jaw
      my neck
shoulder muscles punting
my logged and leaden head lolling
   a laugh of hurt
a ******* of saliva
        detonates on the carpet
is there blood in that  ?
sickness on the verge
                 of being brutally provided

"So dramatic !"
my wife passes me a glass of fruit juice
                             and an aspirin
         preventing the transformation
                a gentle chiding
original version ....

[a laugh without kindle
from a wound not an orifice
a mastication of ills and soothes
a not quite mushroom smell
pained ears
an ug at the back of the throat]
Anais Vionet Sep 2020
I swear, my parents act like they were never teens in a pandemic growing up.

I was watching “Perry Mason,” an HBO show set in the 1930s. Perry gets mail out of his mailbox and I think “no GLOVES??” This pandemic has a hold of me.

6:30am  I’m finishing my shower - wrapping my hair in a towel.
Mom: from my room “I have something for you!”
Me: “OK.” (I’m curious)
I step out of the shower, wrap on a towel, and my mom steps up and gives me a flu shot without so much as a “by your leave.”  Dr. Surprise strikes again.
My arm hurts  =/

Writing a paper, on my computer, in class - I try to use the perfect word but I spell it so badly the spell checker gives up and in effect, says “I got nothin’.” I switch words.

Telling a girl to calm down is like trying to put a cat in a tub.
My parents think every guy I talk to is my boyfriend.
If I’m texting and smiling my parents think I have a boyfriend.
I say, I don’t know” when I don’t care.

For ALL of its downsides virtual school is better because:
  My two BFF and I have a facetime call going ALL school day so
    we can say snarky things about everyone..
  I can listen to music on my headphones during classes.
  I have multiple screens so I can web-surf during classes.
  I don’t have to wear shoes or a skirt!
  I can put a video up so it looks like I’m paying attention.
  I can snack/take a bathroom break whenever I want to.
  I don’t have to carry a backpack or make locker stops.
  I can be late or leave early and blame it on “tech issues”.
such is teen life 2020
angela brooks May 2020
Looking Up   Locking Down

When is a lockdown not a lockdown?
When is a pandemic running its course?
Looking up, I see beautiful days, sunshine and flowers,
Clouds nowhere to seen in clear blue sky
But the warm soft air is full of danger.

So too, we are told, is being less than two metres
From a stranger.
No pleasant smiles or Good Mornings -
We cross the road, step into stranger’s driveways
Anything to avoid closing the gap,
getting too close to a fellow human.

I am dehumanized. Unhappy at the fear people have
At the sight of me
And the fear my children and grandchildren have
At the thought of a visit, which once brought joy
With (now forbidden) hugs.

Not long now say the country’s masters
Soon we’ll unlock the lock
But will we ever again feel trust and ease
In our restored freedoms?
How strange to hug and smile a greeting
When its been so long since our last meeting.

AEB April 2020
angela brooks May 2020
Funny how soon normal creeps up on us                  
and clears away the strangeness
with each sweep of the broom.  
                    
The sky looks the same as it did,
we walk, side by side, as we did.
And the death toll mounts, the police checks grow

We can measure metres without a rule
(though we did feet and inches when at school)
We learn to use Whatsapp and Skype,
 just to see our families’ faces.
 then we disinfect our phones, wipe away the traces.

We’re told to wash our hands for twenty secs
and obedience – unnatural – is what the world expects.
Strangers shop for strangers and an obedient population
applauds an institution on demand, at a given time

Then we go back into our houses
close the windows, lockdown the doors
consider the unseen enemy, and, once again,

                          mop the floors.
Carlo C Gomez Mar 2020
Every surface
Every hour
Any symptoms?
Out of water
Out of masks
Any victims?
He's out there
A media darling
Time to panic?
Play it safe, okay
Just don't give in
To the hype
Even if he is
"Hosting"
Saturday Night Live
This week
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