7

by Robert Sheppard
from 14 Standards: overdubs of sonnets of the Romanic
Period, part of British Standards (The English Strain Book 3)

Overdub of Written at Killarney. July 29, 1800
by Mary Tighe

Weed drips into water     silent
As lockdown streets     low cloud rolls
Over unrolling news     emotive tide
That may not be stemmed     ‘operation
Last gasp’ co–opted to Bo’s canonised
Breath    police stop the jogging mother
With her skipping daughter     blot clouds
Billow inked    lake super moon     thin cover
Ministers cramping up testimonials
Before futurity’s magpies      bleached streak of
Ruffled hair wrinkles across the wildlife
Soundtrack     the park growls      authority’s
Inexorable frown       binding before our eyes
Each roomy sonnet locked with a hermit’s clue

8th April 2020