Virus

[easywayout]

There's a nice parallel between the bush that was actually ravaged this last summer, and the cities that are being ravaged by COVID. I like the use of 'imagined' to describe the heightened sense of paranoia...cough cough
The pacing through the 7 lines is good, and there's economy of words. There's a nice play on 'r' in ravage / milkwort / thorn. The description is vivid.
Outstanding.

Thanks for your comment, Busker. Glad the COVID parallel came through for you (helped, I suppose, by my none-too-subtle title). I’m afraid that with my non-rhotic accent, I didn’t link the [ɹ] sounds in ‘ravaged’ with the rest, but at any rate, there’s plenty of other assonance and consonance.

Yes, well, when you read about people coming to blows and assaulting police over toilet paper at Big W, you have to wonder what they’ve been smoking.