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Tuesday, April 21, 2020

Pestilence

In honor of National Poetry Month.




Pestilence



First, the news of deaths in China.
Bat meat, they say.
Gatherings here disappear, but not before I wonder
if I will lose any friends.
Pestilence spreads with travelers everywhere.
Countries close borders, though viruses do not respect borders.
Invisible specter, lurking just where we least expect it.

I forget that I am sequestered,
tell a friend to come over, remember we can’t do that.
Fever and congestion cause worry.
I spend my days inside
worrying that today will be my last.
Walk outside every day.
All of this waiting.

The news gets worse.
No symptoms in its stealth phase, then
a mushroom cloud of sick needing hospitals
and morgues.
Scarcities rule the market, our government hoards resources,
doctors and nurses begin to fall.
I notice how many things I touch when I go out.

The news gets worse.
Businesses shutter, workers have no income,
A quiet settles over cities. 
Essential businesses still open 
begin to lose workers.
The news is all-COVID all the time.
Home-made masks are better than nothing.

The news gets worse.
We begin to mourn those whom we have lost.
Musicians, athletes, ordinary people who work in public.
I stare down the existential questions.
Why am I here? What is the purpose of my life?
Answers come in the solitude.
Granddaughters run fevers, send me to my knees.

The news is mixed.
Tweny million people have lost their jobs.
With their jobs, their health care.
The nation has rallied.
We share food, meet in cyberspace.
Drive by shootings are replaced by 
drive by birthday parties.

The news gets better.
A drop-off in new cases in New York City,
people healing from the disease.
A light at the end of the tunnel.
Hope that people will go back to work 
begins to spread.
China lifts its travel ban.

The news gets better.
Other countries are going back to work.
Spring flowers promise a future
with beauty and heavenly scents.
Vaccines begin to appear in labs.
Store shelves fill again.
Government checks arrive in homes.

The news gets better.
Governors coordinate plans
in the absence of federal guidance.
Happy homemade videos counterbalance
network news negativity.
The world breathes a sigh of relief.
It will end.