Modern Sonnet 242. Peel Street Poetry at Social Room, by Andrew Barker 

Sonnet 242. Peel Street Poetry in Social Room, 2020.

for Siba and Hem
For long I’ve linked, “There’s half-priced drinks till Nine,"
With poetry read loud from well-loved mic,
By changing faces, found through changing times,
But ever tied to beer-fed, fun-fuelled nights,
Made better by a camaraderie
Attained through both delight at sight and trust,
A time-built, warm, familiarity
That makes a slight-linked group become an Us.
In Social Room where social distancing
Was all around and awful, but the risk
Was minimal, compared to other things,
And what is read or said by poets is
Worth coming out of quarantine to hear.
At least I thought so then, of them, when there.

Lockdown Sonnet Twenty-four.
Andrew Barker