We are on day 5 of Lockdown 2.0, adjusting is easier for some than others. Since our last Lockdown (in 2020) New Zealand has experienced the luxury of life almost like ‘before times’, so the swift return was both a surprise and only a matter of time.
The following poem I have dredged from the archives. It was written as my wife and I waited for the start of a Florence and A Machine concert (Auckland, January 2019). A great concert – very impressive performance, even though it isn’t my first choice of music genre.
Smoke Machine
Smoke machine in overdrive:
Just what fans need to jive
Random non related sounds drown out other thoughts.
No room on the credit card, crippled by merch just bought.
Uncomfortable plastic seats slowly yield
To hundreds of expectant faces.
“Pardon me, a dozen graces”
As they push past knees, crushing toes.
Arse in my drink, lyrics no-one knows!
Dressed in their finest or not much at all,
Here for the show and having a ball.
Stage magic all set
Sound engineered to spec.
Lights go down
Looks shoot around,
But not for who we wish
This is something new, maybe swish.
Warm up your mood with a warm up act:
Quality set
No-one has heard of.
We reach for more Smirnoff
Derivative, white man soul.
Makes me think of home.
The main act, some time away
But the bar is just a door way.
Angele Toomey Poetry 