By Lydia Fulleylove
Lockdown is six foot by eight
Lockdown is bang up 23/24
Lockdown is the cell door’s clank shut
Lockdown is a lurch of the heart
Lockdown is loss of a loved one’s visit
Lockdown is not Skype, Zoom, WhatsApp
Lockdown is not a two metre chat
Lockdown is not the thrill of a trip to the shop
Lockdown is not a stroll down the lane
Lockdown is not a run in the park
Lockdown is a shout across the yard to a mate
Lockdown is a bucket by the bed
Lockdown is a milk carton on the sill
Lockdown is a twenty minutes outside your cell
Lockdown is a view of the same patch of wall
Lockdown is aggro shut out
Lockdown is a pen, a pattern, a page
Lockdown is ‘bang up’ cracked
Lockdown is solitude unlocked
Lockdown is spirit unleashed
Lydia Fulleylove has worked in collaborative arts projects in prisons, schools and healthcare for many years. She has published two collections: Notes on Sea and Land (HappenStance) and Estuary, Two Ravens.
Effective in the way it repeats lockdown at beginning of each line, hammering the wretchedness of it home.