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Living Ghost

By: Claire Finn

About The Poem

I wrote this poem during the first Lockdown and became intrigued with the alienating effect it had on me. Through the lack of human interaction and contact. To the isolating language used to advise people to be safe. I decided to personify loneliness and how this creates a haunting within oneself to question what is real and what isn’t. The unknown endurance of lockdown creating uncertainty and growing fear.

The Poem

Can you hear me? Can you see me? Behind this prism of glass, this square shaped space. Is there someone who can tell me if they can feel the breeze of my breath? Or the warmth of my skin? Can you smell the coconut conditioner in my hair? Or am I a living ghost? A translucent entity whose voice is muted in the new Zoom world?

There is a voice that I hear, It’s faint but also near. The voice sounds familiar. I feel it’s distant presence and it comes with warning. It tells me “I am you” and “you are me. There is a haunting that has long been in our company. It hides behind safety, offering you a false sense of security. It begins with the words “Catch up soon, must call, stay home, keep safe.” These words enter your thoughts, with empty reassurance, that the numbing fog which is descending within your heart, will surpass all vaccination. You will hear only the ambiance of silence. You will feel only the empty space that keeps us two metres apart. A hunger will grow for affection, as the fog imprisons your senses. Institutionalising the imposter within your mind. Frozen in time, until the dark tunnel comes…. The voice faded away. Leaving behind nothing but emptiness.

Can you hear me? Can you see me?

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