Frontline
written by: Elizabeth Barton
@DestinyAngel25
Supermarkets become a frontline of battle
(don’t mention the toilet paper, or the brawl
over the last chicken in a Hawkes Bay store).
Buying groceries is a military operation,
full metal jacket; surgical mask, rubber gloves,
a vial of hospital-grade sanitiser
fit to knock me out if I inhale too deeply.
My mask practically blinds me as I fumble,
glasses steam up as I thumb through my list.
Dodging bullets of any innocent cough is a new art;
aisles are trenches, the enemy swift and unseen;
I dart through my chores with a sniper handcart.
Elizabeth Barton
Elizabeth Barton is an artist and poet from New Zealand, with work featured in Pink Plastic House, Fevers of the Mind, Black Bough Poetry’s Rapture and Christmas/Winter Edition 2021 and Vita Brevis Literature, Nothing Divine Dies. A winner of the 2020 White Label Cinq competition, she has a forthcoming poetry collection to be published by Hedgehog Poetry Press. Her art is in private and public collections worldwide, including the V & A Prints Collection, London.
Latest posts by Elizabeth Barton (see all)
- Mr Slinkmaster - November 5, 2022
- Lilith - March 8, 2022
- The Black Swan - September 19, 2021
