“Anxious As Daybreak” © Bill Wolak

 

Banned

It was decades ago
that flowers were banned
in hospitals.
Unhygienic, you see.
Unsafe.
With their smells
and susceptibility
to spillages.

Then there was a pandemic.
And people were banned.
No visiting allowed
Unhygienic, you see.
Unsafe
with their smells
and susceptibility
to carry infection.

But technology sorted it!
Now robots bring flowers
robotic flowers
with robotic smells,
and robotic comfort.
Disinfected.
Safe.

Soon people won’t notice
the difference.
Soon people won’t remember
the difference.

 

Lynn White lives in north Wales. Her poetry is influenced by issues of social justice and events, places and people she has known or imagined. She is especially interested in exploring the boundaries of dream, fantasy and reality.

Bill Wolak is a poet, collage artist, and photographer who has just published his eighteenth book of poetry entitled All the Wind’s Unfinished Kisses with Ekstasis Editions. His collages and photographs have appeared recently in the 2020 International Festival of Erotic Arts (Chile), the 2020 Seattle Erotic Art Festival, the 2020 Dirty Show in Detroit, the 2021 Rochester Erotic Arts Festival, the 2018 Montreal Erotic Art Festival, and Naked in New Hope 2018. He was a featured artist in Best of Erotic Art (London, 2022).