CORONAVIRUS - York taxi driver performs lockdown poem

For Wendy Loveday, chair of the York Private Hire Association and a shareholder at Fleetways Taxis,  Lockdown has been tough for a number of reasons.

One of her ways of coping with the loss of trade and the isolation that the 'stay at home' message brings was to try to put her feelings into words.

"Everything feels surreal.

There's billions of us across the world in exactly the same predicament, so it must resonate with other people.

I am sure it's not just my own story that I'm telling. I'm sure everyone can find themselves in there somewhere.

Whilst writing this poem I also felt that repetition was mandatory for the reader to experience the mundaneness of sameness, but also to appreciate how repetition enables us to connect with our reality.

The poem almost feels like it's a skewed inverted version of my life, but it is an absolute representation of my actual life right now and for however long this lasts."

VIDEO - Wendy performs her poem

"I wrote my poem's opening stanza (verse) about my 2 year old Grandson, because he is the future, and we all need to be able to envisage one right now.

I don't believe that I ever truly understood the meaning of the word 'unprecedented' until now, and still I find it hard to comprehend.

I believe that there is no single word able to describe exactly what we are all going through right now. We are living in the future's history lessons, and personally I'm not mad keen on it myself."

She is a published poet and has performed in York a lot, so she decided to just write it down, bang it on Facebook, and see what happens.

And it appears that people rather like it and relate to it.

And that makes her happy.

In My Alternate Reality

In my alternate reality with grandson on knee, I spin tales of our great deeds

There's no way that I'm peering through windows and hearing him brag that he just weed

 

In my alternate reality my hand on my daughter is waiting to feel that first kick. 

I am not worrying about her birthing alone, as that would make feel sick

 

In my alternate reality I break bread with my son as we finally snatch time from work 

I am not speaking to him, blue mask on my face, nor breaking our two metre cirque

 

In my alternate reality I whizz down the aisles mechanically doing a shop

I am not standing in line at the end of the car park awaiting the barrier to drop

 

In my alternate reality shelves are stacked high with loo rolls, flour and soap

I am not scowling and shouting at empty spaces and losing all feelings of hope

 

In my alternate reality my sister's have come for a weekend of fun and a moan

I am not sitting at home, just me on the couch, and drinking my horlicks alone

 

In my alternate reality I laugh through the Play, our gift finally reaching its date

I am not sitting at home pending ticket refunds as the postman now reaches my gate

 

In my alternate reality I sleep sound at night 'til daylight breaks through my blinds 

I am not waking up with cold sweats and in pain as my stomach twists with this bind

 

In my alternate reality I ignore my bills, trust the bank to achieve its own goals 

I am not checking accounts and watching them empty leaving nothing for me but big holes

 

In my alternate reality I am walking with friends in York and stopping for beers 

I am not watching the crap on the telly right now for the first time in over ten years

 

In my alternate reality my haircut is perfect, all shiny, a beautiful sheen

It does not look styled with a knife and a fork, and most definitely in need of a clean

 

In my alternate reality I burst in the meeting, smile apologies to the room scanned

I am not sitting alone with my laptop plugged in electronically raising my hand

 

In my alternate reality my confidence brims so much so it feels like a sin

I'm not feeling so distant from normal life that my brain just won't take it in

 

In my alternate reality I pay my respects in churches that burst at the seams

They are not stopping people attending funerals and making us grieve unseen

 

In my alternate reality I walk the world freely through forests and mountains and streets

I am not sitting here silently screaming trapped in this Medieval repeat

 

In my alternate reality life is just normal and everything’s without the stress

There’s no painted rainbows adorning windows thanking God for the NHS

 

BUT in this reality world lock-down is needed to help them to save life

So I'll stay at home like some Superhero 'til we damned well win this fight

 

Wendy Loveday

25th April 2020 in York during the first lock-down extension.

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