Six Sentence Stories: a viral poem

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Britains toys. 1983. UK.

I’m linking up with Denise at Girlie On The Edge Blog, where she hosts Six Sentence Stories, and the cue word this week is Routine.

A viral poem:

The rime of the ancient healthcarer

 

07h: Colleagues arrive, smiles behind masks, Wuhan shakes all around, wash hands, clean-crisp uniforms, temperatures taken.

09h: Patients washed and fed, some ache, some throb, some sneeze, some cough, mask on, wash hands, gloves on, temperatures taken.

14h: Sanitize, sterilize, realize some don’t like their own company in isolation, oxygen, pills, hand gels and meals on wheels, change mask, wash hands, touch face – blast it, wash hands again.

16h: Mask on, mask off, wash hands, mask on, disinfect, tick boxes checked, temperatures taken.

20h: Wash hands, change clothes, mask off, go home, wash hands, change clothes, watch news with family, prepare sandwiches for tomorrow.

00h: A routine sleep brings bad scenes lathered in dystopian creams, because there’s not enough water to keep us clean in viral dreams it seems we all must share, day after day, day after day, they dropped down one by one; virus, virus, everywhere, and all the crowds were gone.

After The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge.

#Coronavirus #WashHands

31 thoughts on “Six Sentence Stories: a viral poem”

  1. I don’t know what happened, I have my settings so that i should receive a notification each time you post, but apparently I have missed like a half dozen. Catching up, to-day.

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  6. Wow. Just. Wow. Excellent.
    While I know the reference, I’ve not read Mr. Coleridge’s poem. However, being an Iron Maiden fan from way back, I always enjoyed their rendition of “Rime of the Ancient Mariner” 🙂

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    • Thanks so much for reading and commentating 🙂 Sadly, not much fiction involved in this week’s SSS from me. I work in the health care sector with elderly patients. Worrying times for all.
      Yay! A Maiden fan 🙂 \m/ Funny, at the time of studying Ancient Mariner at school Powerslave came out and so we were delighted to hear their version! I remember proudly wearing my cut off denim jacket over a leather jacket with huge Number of the Beast back patch. Ah, great days 🙂

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      • I enjoy reading your Sixes as they are so varied, fiction or otherwise.
        Sad indeed. The elderly are extremely vulnerable. I do not envy your position in current times. May you and all your patients weather this virus in proper, good health.
        One of my all time favorite bands to this very day 😀 Tell me you still have the jacket! 😀

        P.S. So what was it with cut off sleeves back then, lol.
        I have 2 Maiden t-shirts – from Number of the Beast & Powerslave tours – both with the sleeves cut off 😀

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      • Thanks again for the good words and wishes 🙂
        Re the jacket, ah, wish I still had it, it was so cool. Lol, we also had bullet belts (still have that actually). So, if you like Maiden, do you also like old school bands like Rainbow, Sabbath, Priest, Metallica, etc?
        Re the cut off sleeves – omg you are so right! What was it about that?? Maybe some early rock stars wore them on stage and we fans started copying them? Or was it an act of rebellion partially destroying our clothes? Like tearing holes in the knees of our jeans before holes became popular? 🙂

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  8. Scary, but right on!
    I always enjoy what you write, and this is the most NOW, you have written about.
    I was out today, and bought a myriad of cleaning and disinfection supplies.
    I’ve got 2 cats, and am trying to stock up on cat food.
    3 months worth of coffee, 2months worth of pasta, canned chick peas and lentils adding up.
    Must remember to get more toilet paper.
    LOL…. or should I say….. l o l?

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  11. Dude!*

    But serially, Good Six.

    Not the least for which I say, it me did prompt to read the tale (yada yada)… I read the original (thanks to the square-tubed gods).

    Damn! How much more fun is it to read now than in the 11th grade. I suspect it has everything to do with the writing-jones I’ve since acquired. But, like listening to old records and trying to come up with ‘new’ guitar licks, I had a whole new appreciation for this thing.

    (as your boy Samual might say)
    “I have strange power of speech.”

    *yeah, still a compliment.

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