shut in
why must our children stay at home forever?
I have not left my house since 2020
it is almost three years now
i have not left my loungeroom since 2020
I can go to the bathroom the lounge room
I can go into the garden
but not see my friends
I can only go to places
where other people can't kill me with their breath
I left my house seven times
twice to go to the doctors
once to the hospital
when I almost died;
once to go to my school
once when mum was sick
and dad had to take me to work
i sat in the car
read a book
ate my sandwich
once to say goodbye to
my grandmother
through the glass of the nursing home
once to have an interview
to enrol at a school
I have never been to.
once to the shops to buy a present
I wore a mask but nobody else did
they say those days are over now
my doctor says if I get covid
I will be very sick, or die
seven times
I am thirteen now
that's more than half the years in my life.
I miss the world
but the world, it seems
doesn't miss me.