Turning Circles
Staring out of my rain-spattered window,
I notice the twirling Collie again. I wave.
This is what I’ve been reduced to: waving at passing dogs.
My smile grows wide as I stare at my phone screen,
each person trapped in a box.
I wish to reach out in person, soaring.
I close my work laptop, I open my home laptop,
I check my phone is charged. Seeking connection
through devices and screens, I rarely succeed.
I ask my dogs “when do you think this will all be over?”
“Soon,” they both say,
“we worry it is driving you quite mad.”
Val Bates lives in Edinburgh, Scotland. She writes Picture Books, flash fiction and the odd poem. She loves dogs and the Highlands.
Halle Preneta is currently stuck in her house in the United States. She enjoys writing short romance, sci-fi, and horror stories along with poetry and gets her ideas from random life experiences and fanfiction. When she’s not writing, she’s either watching YouTube or playing Animal Crossing. Her Twitter handle is @YaTheatreNerd
Alice Curley is a poet living in Boston, MA. She studied playwriting and theatre at Boston University, and now works at Harvard University for the Division of Continuing Education. She found herself driven to write about the pandemic because there was so much to be said about these unprecedented times.
Simon McBride is a dyslexic writer with a preference for sci-fi but lately has been enjoying writing in experimental ways largely with poetry and works with small word counts. He is a student at Edge Hill University studying creative writing and like everyone else, waiting for the dawn.
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100 Words Of Solitude 