Nowhere but in his own Montserrat will a man find happiness and peace.

Goethe

​

Bless my prayer with your perfume.

The Virolai

 

​

I have not felt well. I have felt hollow. Sunken. My mind a dive into somewhere shaded, blank earth. Not present. Avoidance reigns.

 

Early mornings are the only time I feel safe, when the air is promising. I continually wake at five, then at four, then at three. I am constantly trying to decode my body’s messages. Traditional Chinese medicine recognises different organs of the body as being active at certain hours of the day and night. Between three and five in the morning is the time of the lungs. During these hours, the body is dealing with imbalances such as persisting feelings of sadness or grief, a voice that is weak, fatigue, chest pain and poor immunity.

 

It is the hottest May for one hundred years. Microplastics accumulate in my lungs and the Coronavirus grips to any healthy cell.

​

...