Stick or Twist?

We’re in the worst place we can possibly be caught between the virus and the economy. Do we stick or do we twist? Either way it’s a credible risk. The government wants us to go out spending but doesn’t want this country to be trending by rising up the mortality league list and it’s difficult to see through the pandemic mist. Should we stay safe in the lockdown or open up the businesses in the town? Though the transmission rates are coming down we still have a virus named after a crown. So while there’s an active epidemic and the infections are systemic these questions are academic because the outlook’s not fantastic and without meaning to sound bombastic some people need to get their ass kicked.

You see the politicians are in pieces ‘cos they weren’t prepared for this kind of crisis, but it’s the common people who are paying the price, and no amount of apology is going to suffice. Our leaders had no training for this amount of dying but what they do possess is a talent for lying and while the entire world is sat there crying while all around us our neighbours and families are dying, our so-called leaders should be busy rectifying all those initial mistakes that were made all the misinformation that was relayed and the best laid plans that were never laid and the important decisions that were delayed.

The question still unanswered as we are caught between the virus and the economy and if we try to get back to some sense of normality, is how much carnage are we going to see? As the lockdown starts to ease and everyone begins to do as they please are we going to avoid a wider spread of this disease, catching the coughs and stifling the sneeze? Will we soon be worse off than when we first began? As we attempt to reboot our economic plan will the social distancing rules be ignored? Will we listen to the advice from our overlords or will it all be like a monopoly board - go back three spaces, do not collect your reward? Now no matter what the government’s stance is, they’re gonna throw their dice and we’ll all have to take our chances.

Steve Wheeler © 5 July, 2020

Image from Pexels

This poem was first published in Ellipsis by Steve Wheeler, Wheelsong Books, 2020.