Kathryn Hummel

Birds Don’t Care

After Vivek

not so much shooting through as

ran into an endlessly thick wall of viruses

this is mainstream now

can’t even imagine someone else not liking it

i saw the sky for the first time today

the portents are all too strong

at least the milk shops are open

everything is masturbatory

but sometimes you just need to be

in a large dark room y’know

cowards gonna cower

it keeps me entertained

giving people release is the PM’s forte

never mind light genocide

i’ve seen even monkeys do that

we’re not so different, you and i

the species barrier for virus transmission is small

clearly you’ve never pet a hedgehog before

i blame popular Western media

i feel like i’m dealing in non sequiturs

hope it’s panic and despair

who don’t like despair and also the word moist

my goodness it’s almost orgasmic

the human condition?

i’m willing to put Rs. 50 on that

boredom breeds

random police brutality

knives out beaks bloody

daft ungendered body parts

such erotic potential

i contain multitudes

just respond by calling them ‘Montgomery’

from my balcony

i too hope i leave a suitable stain

hope it’s a light flow

when the Five Go Into Quarantine

i hear they sanitise the sticks after every beatin’

oh to be that slash

you could’ve been a WhatsApp somebody

because you’re not his local goonda

you are a paragon of something

that’s not state sanctioned

OK. Fuck it. Let’s

let’s get booze and limit exposure

the world will not end this year

transcendental experiences shall abound

interrobangs are necessary

but they’re not bad

they were just born this way

Dr Kathryn Hummel is an Australian-born, India-based writer, editor, academic and multimedia artist. Author of six books of poems, her latest is Lamentville (Math Paper Press, 2019). More details @ www.kathrynhummel.com