Shielding

https://twitter.com/alliancescot/status/1365356539834433536?s=21 This is a video the ALLIANCE made of me reading this poem for a workshop. It brings this work to life, I hope you enjoy it. Shielding. Its beautiful today, blue skies and sun dazzling snow. Children sledging and shaping snow into fun creations. Their calls and screams a joyful burst in a long lockdwon winter. They don’t notice me. That’s me there, across the road behind the window. My social calendar is empty, bar the NHS. My “walks” with friends were highlights Until the bitter east winds came. “Stay in” calls resound. And snow is not the place for the vulnerable. I’ve done my share of sledging, skating on thin ice ( ahem) and building lifeless snowmen. Instead I huddle in doorways. The offical photographer for photos I never appear in. Shielding they call it. I’m at risk of the virus that haunts us each night on the news I try to avoid but cant. I’ve been in ICU before it terrified me with drug induce