shot glass
title
"... brevity is the soul of wit ..."
- William Shakespeare

Bio


Paula Aamli has just received her doctorate in Organisational Change from Hult Ashridge Executive Education, in which she used arts-based and action research methods to explore and call for socially just responses to the climate crisis. Her poem "Lockdown" has been accepted for inclusion in Issue 26 (March 2021) of Allegro Poetry Magazine. In her day job, Paula works with governance and sustainability in financial services. Paula's greatest concern is the degraded condition in which human beings will hand over the Earth to future generations.


Paula Aamli


 

Small Talk

(Pantoum-Sonnet)

Strong emotions unsettle her, Rosanna says –
We are huddled beside a Joan Eardley at the time,
Sipping complimentary fizz and watching the crowd.
I blink, scratch-eyed from broken, fitful sleep.

We huddle beside a Joan Eardley storm-blown sea.
So many sources of terror in the world outside.
I blink, scratch-eyed from broken, fitful sleep,
Leisurely day fractured by sickness and bad news.

So many terrors to hide from, together, in this corner.
Sipping complimentary fizz and watching the crowd,
I erase all mention of sickness or bad news, as
Confrontations unsettle her, Rosanna says.

Later, as I steel myself for the gauntlet of the dark dock,
The evening star waits at the gate to walk me home.