The Fine Print
(TV programmes, online courses,
news feeds and feedback sheets)
Write down what you think you understand,
scrutinise your sentences.
Cut their stalks at an angle of forty-five
degrees. If they can be disrupted test
your vision. Re-write to become irrefutable,
feed them sugar and aspirin. Drawing
is a good way of seeing.
Position your mirrors so space is infinite –
their literature is deeply mathematical.
Small increases of infectivity cause blips
in the newsfeed. Stay at a safe distance.
Behind podiums, ministers are straining
every sinew to embrace you. Save the scientists.
Save your breath. Place your heart in a bay
window. The results may appear
in a medical journal. Stay alert
to differences between facts and opinions.
Discover the difficulty of fitting
disdain into fixed dimensions. Stay safe.
Stay sane. Stay enraged. Deadhead your dahlias.
The ice-age can still be evidenced
by the results of glaciation.
June Wentland lives in Corsham, Wiltshire but originates from Hull. She has had poetry published in magazines such as Stand and Poetry Ireland Review and in several anthologies. Currently, June also has a poem on the "Poetry Archive Now! Word View 2020" YouTube Channel.