Post-Lockdown Scenes From A Guernsey Beer Garden - J. Archer Avary

We’re back at the pub
at a table in the sun
drinking to welcome
the end of the lockdown
                          socially distanced
                          as per restrictions
                          examining faces from
                          two metres away
Over at the next table
with his back to us
a punk in a Kangol hat
sips on his Breda with
                          the aplomb of a man
                          who can pull off a thick
                          gauge double earring
                          worn without irony
Over in the corner
a Boddington’s drinker
in builder’s knee-pads and
paint-splattered trousers
                          he nurses his golden pint
                          props it up on his belly
                          like a man who doesn’t
                          want the moment to end
The atmosphere is merry
like the X-mas decorations
no one bothered to take down
when spring transformed
                          the island into a paradise
                          for flies and bees that
                          circle the table sometimes
                          landing in the beer foam

J. Archer Avary

Le Dejeuner sur L’Herbe - Richard Fleming

A July day in southern France.
The picnic was a simple one:
cheese, ham and crusty fresh-baked bread,
a little wine to wash it down.

Post-lunch, we fell into a trance.
Our holiday had just begun.
We dozed, our paperbacks unread
I sought the sun, you slept facedown.

Waking, I chanced an upward glance.
Above us swallows wheeled and spun
as though they were unwinding thread
from an incredible blue gown.

Richard Fleming

Lazy Day - Tony Gardner

I'm sitting in a soft chair out the back
The sun is shining down and wind is slack
My dog is on my lap and she's OK
It's such a lovely tender kind of day
A blackbird singing in the tree
Lifts the spiritual in me
It's work today but I don't care
Just gonna sit here in my chair

Tony Gardner

River-Tubing - Fred Williamson

Peaceful freedom,
Messing about on the river,
River tubing, a lazy watery day,
At first going the wrong way,

I need a helping hand,
I am not making any ground,
Just spinning, around and round,
Doing dog-paddle,
A splashing water sound,

Let the current take you.

It was decided, time to take a rest,
On one small sandy river island,
We heard birdsong and crickets.
If we had a tent, we could free camp,
Short stop: a group photo shot.

Tubing with the river flow,
Passing fishermen and boats,
And other islands, not remote.

Let the current take you.

Fred Williamson