Whats app neighbours group 2020

By: Eithne Cullen

About The Poem

The Poem

Does anyone want these?

Tomato plants in pots appear on doorsteps
children’s books long outgrown ready for a clear out,
a pair of child’s pyjamas in their wrapping,
cooking apples, knitting wool, suspect looking seeds,
a trade in jigsaw puzzles starts to trend,
half used pots of paint and
garden tools from some antiquated shed…

How is everyone doing?

Lots of jolly messages and cheery words
emoticons in shades of yellow, green and red,
ubiquitous thumbs ups, cheery winking eyes.
But some explain the ambulance at the door,
some tell of family members not so good
and we all send hearts and little flowers
whats app confraternity of fear and dread…

Are we all clapping for the NHS?

At eight, we see each other face to face
speak to neighbours we have never met
and laugh at no 95’s vuvuzela farty noise.
We see teddy bears in windows and rainbows
put there to cheer and lift our daily walks,
we notice families that have grown – while
older men and women stand alone…

Has anyone got trouble with their internet?

And many replies flood in, berating this
or that provider, we all know who’s the worst!
The reality of broadband failure affects exams
or documents needed for important work,
talk turns to who we should trust, while
water pressure worries stream and show
our need – stuck in dependency, locked down…

Did you hear that Number 71 has passed?

Diverse streams of RIPs flow in – from
Christian crosses to evocations of Allah
and kind, sad words, about how nice he was,
what a good neighbour to us all, how sad.
Then, like some old East End all in it together
band, we walk, silently and stand
to watch the hearse and shed a tear,
not just for him but for us all.