Poole & Duggan – May 2021

Teresa Duggan and Michele Poole traded art and words. Teresa shared this image, titled “Escape Hatch” with Michele:

In response, Michele wrote this poem:

The Escape Hatch

Solitary, quarantine, agitation, 
distressed, weakened, anxiety,
despair, depression, diseases.
Grim reaper waits patiently,
Virus silently looks for next victim,
The answer is in a lottery.

Weddings lost in air, funerals 
exposed, watching by digital,
in the mist, people dying alone,
events are like a time from 
yesterday, family members fall
off like flies, vanished.

I disappear into the Escape Hatch,
a place where everyone is happy,
no misery here, landscape is a
painting, the golden tree sits in the
middle of the fields of flowers, 
elderly are skipping, laughing.

Colourful butterflies with human 
eyes stare at me, asking, what am 
I doing here, multi-coloured bees,
fluorescent mushrooms, orange 
clouds floating around like fairy 
floss, I am peaceful here. 

Beep, beep, beep, beep, I hear 
a clock from afar, “it’s time to go 
back, not your time here yet”, 
a child says to me, I disappear
back to my body, the escape hatch 
is closed, my ultimate Utopia. 

* * * * *

Michele shared this poem with Teresa:

The Tank

There sits a large blue tank,
coming alive at night.
I hear a bubbling sound, 
mysterious, dark, and quiet.

I lift the steel mesh lid,
a prison.
Two alien eyes stare,
the blue creature, sharp claws.

It gazes at me,
hangs onto the pipe.
It looks at me, a doggy treat,
the creature swims backwards.

The bottom of the big blue tank,
invaders race towards the food.
Extra-terrestrials from space,
these are my weird creatures,
my fresh-water crayfish.

In response, Teresa made this image, titled “Yabby 2000: lupDujHomwIj luteb gharghmey”: