The kids are all returning to the institutes of learning and the fact it all feels odd is odd.
We’re on the cusp of normal, they’re calling it new normal and all our rusty formalities are going to need some dusting off.
And that’s odd
Because the old normal was not normal.
Can we keep in mind that fact?
We’re all still feeling our way
But everyone’s rules and boundaries are different.
And everybody’s idea of distance is different today.
And some are indifferent.
To mask or not to mask,
I implore you stranger with my eyes
Because I
want to hug my mum
This year, sometime.
And meanwhile
Lockdown looms still,
renewed, resumed it looms large and potential.
And so does fascism, around the world and on our doorstep.
The pause gave us pause.
We saw the causes of our existential threatenings
We thought we recognised the sound of goose-steps.
There were upsides to the upheaval
Some people had some time to see some light perhaps.
And yet, here we are
teetering on our new normal that looks like the old normal
in masks
and there remains this niggling feeling that we are being robbed by forceful forces while we tiptoe around one another with faces half hid.
And I say to the children be mindful of your distances out there kids.
There is a virus out there that’s making the world sick.
I think we need some changes and some new plans that fit.