Lockdown #5: Social Anxiety
Seven months in lockdown, now nearly November
A boring blur, nothing to remember
All day in a daze
With COVID haze
Feels like it’s been one hell of a bender
Working from home, so close to the larder
Many of us have grown a little bit larger
All day inside
Little exercise
Each week in confinement, tedious and harder
The government has announced its budget for the year
Designed to jump-start the economy into gear
A trillion-dollar debt
All based on a bet
For a vaccine and the virus totally all clear
Tax cuts and incentives, in the hope that we’ll spend it
Money for mates, they’re happy to lend it
Targeted and temporary
But far from exemplary
Outsourced the recovery to business to mend it
Last year we were told we’re back in the black
But many a small business will never come back
Need more than a few bob
To subsidise jobs
And fix livelihoods destroyed by this COVID attack
In unprecedented times, we need unprecedented vision
For youth, women, elderly, a more caring mission
And utmost urgency
For the climate emergency
Green energy investment and more stable transmission
But we live in a broken, fragmented nation
Is it hotspot management or full eradication?
Or simply suppression
All driving depression
Different rules, closed borders, declining population
Some lived advice for the COVID unemployed
You’ll feel desperate, depressed and very annoyed
But you’ll lose that regret
Regain self-respect
When you finally get a job that you much more enjoy
With drugs, Trump recovered with remarkable speed
Back to electioneering and his country to lead
With a virus to spread
He jumped out of bed
And took the Chopper home from Walter Reed
Trump said don’t be afraid, it’s just like the flu
But his medical treatment is afforded by few
What a response
Now back ensconced
In the White House infecting his fans and his crew
Can’t wait for knock-off time on Friday night
Drinks on Teams is our social highlight
The weekly decanter
With beers and banter
Sometimes a limerick I might recite
With too many cases from an unknown source
A longer lockdown is about to be enforced
Cancel Spring festival
No Melbourne Cup spectacle
No punters in their finery at any racecourse
While we will soon be released back into society
Near normal lives with much more variety
We’ve got in a rut
With these social cuts
And many are nervous with social anxiety
While this virus has been a life derailer
A smooth sea has never made a skilled sailor
We’ll come out stronger
But please - no longer
We’ve had a gutful of our lockdown jailor
Kevin Holmes • 12th October 2020
