Introverts Revenge

Lockdown life is slow, 

a chance to quit the vortex, turn away 

from social life too busy for the brain.

Happy dallying in solitary pursuits;

a poor-man’s piece of splendid isolation

(celebrities pay well for such retreats).

On the daily recommended yomp 

company’s conveniently forbidden;

milling shopping malls are all forgotten, 

memories of teeming transport fades.

In supermarket queues two-trolley separation 

hinders chat and, once inside, no-loitering

cramps gossips’ itch to fake and rebake news.

But in this plague on all our houses, these 

quiet compensations don’t last long.

Two weeks in, the bubble bursts, 

popped by rattled, shaken socialites 

too twitchy to enjoy pandemic positives,

frantic on WhatsApp, FaceTime, Zoom.

And just like that, the quiet life is gone.

Ann Gibson