Pink flamingos and feral crows - getting quarantine out of my system by writing some words and making a small book.

​Pink Flamingos and Feral Crows


​I hear

the hum of worker bees
a leaf blower being wielded endlessly, 
an open fridge door beeping,
the neighbour’s dog yapping,
a fractious child across the way

screaming.



A quarantine soundscape.

​

I watch

a cat on the shingle roof, soft treading the gutter, suspended above the city.
Fearless.
Later, prowling in the long grass
a steady stare,

defiant.

​

​I navigate 

a virtual world of mountains with colours for names

‘pink mountain’s real claim to fame is the high population of rare Arctic butterflies attracted here by the region’s blossoms’

‘it is a very scary place; reminiscent of a 1970’s horror movie’ 

I discover ‘big white’, ‘emerald’, 
‘silver tip’ and more.

I walk 

while the world sleeps,
furtively.
I discover pink flamingos 
and feral crows,
give away garden flowers 
and a tiny front yard book exchange.


​

I feel

the temperature rising.
Radishes in the grey plastic tub 
are quietly wilting.
I consider the crenellations of a thousand fir trees 
on the distant mountain,
watching for the snow melt,

day after day.

​

I’m having trouble with the phone,
have dropped the croutons on the floor,
spoken to a federal officer at the door.


‘talk in a low tone
this will help you stay calmer’

​

A northern Flicker, thrashes and crashes against a glassy pane
as a creeping nausea descends,
probably fictitious.




This may be the longest day.

​

‘a rational person can find peace by cultivating indifference to things outside of their control ’

This is a 
Canadian 
mandatory 
fourteen day 
Covid-19 quarantine.

​

Day ten was the hardest.


​*******

Words and images © Caroline Fraser 2021

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