Introducing a new series of poems by Julian Matthews. Julian is a writer and Pushcart-nominated poet published in The American Journal of Poetry, Autumn Sky Poetry Daily, Borderless Journal, Beltway Poetry Quarterly, Dream Catcher Magazine, Live Encounters Magazine, Lothlorien Poetry Journal and The New Verse News, among others. He is a mixed-race minority from Malaysia and lived in Ipoh for seven years. Currently based in Petaling Jaya, he is a media trainer and consultant for senior management of multinationals on Effective Media Relations, Social Media and Crisis Communications. He was formerly a journalist with The Star and Nikkei Business Publications Inc
Link: https://linktr.ee/julianmatthews
By Julian Matthews
Will we all remember the days we baked,
and broke bread
together as brethren?
Grew fonder of the familiar
Family over friends
The rat-race halted
The race-bait rotted?
Will we remember the nights of the Great Pause
between Lent and Ramadan?
We slowed down — less fast, less furious
The runners became walkers
And delivery boys, delivery-gods…
A neighbour’s kindness, often unsaid⠀
All the writing on the wall — left unread⠀
And all the politicking dead, dead, dead.
First published in anthology Unmasked: Reflections on Virus-time, curated by Shamini Flint, 2020, available on Amazon at https://a.co/d/iXAsn3h
