“So What” by Maxine Cowan

The shops are closed,

the streets empty, parks

are filled mid week with

baby carriages, bicycles,

dogs on a leash and

people, more than

usual on a Monday

or a Thursday.

There’s fresh produce

like never before

as if, all of a sudden,

people eat at home,

with one another.

Dogs don’t care,

three walks a day

maybe more, no routine,

so what, ’It’s a tad unusual

but what you do, I’ll do,’

they say, and cats,

they miss their quiet

9 to 5 and the sunbeam

through the front window

now occupied by

a kid with a book.