How To Bake A New Perspective Poem by Sally A Mortemore

deathly silence
solitude a lonely road to travel
when faced with nothing but oneself
and the days stretch with an elasticated ease
yet shrink too quick once twenty four hours complete a cycle

birds holler beatitudes of comfort
but their banter is ever less than human.
and the lack of contact underestimates the heart
as yet another day dawns its' ending.
beginning from the start.

how do you tame time with all its ticking

will a spoon full of resilience
stir a mind full of observance
combining how to live a lockdown
with a limit of existence

so you bake another sourdough of regret
expecting failure
but watch it rise instead

you look up toward an unfamiliar sky
where there's an old man in a chariot pulled by stallions
then in the earth worm wriggles with such a perseverance
an invertebrate becomes your advocate of hope
you dig for England
watching fruits of possibility thrust forth
as between teeth you crush that freshly grown tomato
with the taste of how things used to be

you break bread across the pavements
each commune distanced by the cracks
each crack a metre wide
each friend an exceptional transaction.
and you think of your mother

and as you stitch your adolescent years in patchwork
your bowl of positivity flows over
flooding this disaster with a history
writing inconspicuous you
into its unabridged notes

and in spite of all career plans slashed
by Corona's sharp uncompromising blade
you see things aren't so bad.
you see things from a different perspective.

so despite all the aloneness
and the heartbreak
and the debilitating dread
you now know how to bake a starter for the future.
all from having mastered
the obligatory
probiotic
loaf of bread.

Sally A Mortemore 2021