We come considered, now, congestion side-lined
by concern, far from those racing rats
who reigned over the old normal, the old days,
the old ways. It’s not about choice anymore
but proximity- a courgette in place of an aubergine,
some Cheddar instead of Stilton, potatoes again
instead of that other, sexier, sweeter variety,
like those snowmen I built on the beach,
out of sand, back in half drowned summers
when I didn’t have a bucket to cast a castle.

Do you wanna build a… well, we make do.

We move, now, on the far sides of odd aisles
where no one overtakes, where we all stop
to let people pass by, first, before, before coming
too close- a new return to old graces highways
could do with heeding. This is how we move,
down familiarly strange aisles, planning recipes
to avoid disasters under masks, under gloves,
under pressure to keep our distance,
to keep going on, through this new normal.

Do you wanna build a… well, safer world?

All words and photographs by Damien B. Donnelly