Tag: Covid-19

poetry

shut

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shut

these are the days of closing doors
cutting off connections
cordoning off wards
identifying and isolating
the smallest unit you hold dear

slide the pocket door into the void
close the border
abandon the gate
leave your post
wring your own hands and none other
don’t open the post
don’t shake on anything

we’re all going inside very dark spaces
sitting quietly
with only a small candle’s glow
learning slowly bitterly desperately
how rich life was
when anyone could barge in
and disturb our peace

poetry

snowsmoke

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snowsmoke

in the white woods
veils of snowsmoke
descend like drapes
unfurling from conifer crowns
cascading with a flourish and fizz
that sets the whole atmosphere asparkle
heightens the drama
anywhere you look
a cloud of crystals
may breathe down your neck
the very next moment

magical shimmer
and cold uncomfortable reality –
that’s how it is these days –
you gotta find a way
to make room for both

poetry

staying away

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staying away

as long as we don’t meet
I’ll know it’s not my fault
(anything that might happen)
and how could I live
with having harmed you?

we all say these words
to everyone now
stay alone for all of you,
our loves who we most long
to wrap our arms around

to share breath together
(the Māori know)
makes us most alive
but I can’t risk
robbing you of yours

so we’ll stay alone in our little
forced-air windows
saying hello through flickering screens
where we can’t smell spring
together

poetry

waiting for snow

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waiting for snow

all day
that tingle of anticipation
getting things done
while they still can be
groceries bought
wood split
sun basked in
walk taken

now all that’s left
is for the wind to shift
clouds to fuzz the sky
and the slow white moths
to begin to tuft the trees

we’re waiting for permission
to withdraw from the world

poetry

casting about

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casting about

how can one endure
house arrest
without knitting gear?

poetry

Bernie

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Bernie

I wanted him to run
past all hope of winning,
a trustworthy soul
with a consistent stance
who was always there for
us believe-in-better-days folks,
those more than ready
to be the change.

But he couldn’t possibly win!
Alex says in exasperation
(though he voted for him, too).
I wanted him to keep running anyway
I say fiercely.
I wanted someone to keep pinning my hopes on
in these uncertain days
when anything may happen.

I wanted him to be there
to be a reckoning.

poetry

peak

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peak

the clock ticks
and the moon hasn’t yet appeared
we still don’t know
when the worst will arrive

who haven’t I told I love yet?
you. I haven’t told you.
or at least, not enough.

there’s nothing left to do
but sleep eat wait walk
hug our very own children
pray to our gods
forgive who we can

poetry

Ursus

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Ursus

in the dark
a stiff snort
and out of the black shadows
comes an even darker lumbering shape
shaggy hungry clawed and climbing

it’s our springtime wake-up call
the mountains are coming alive
(even now in these peak weeks of death)
and with all that motion and growth and melting
come the bears
groggy and ravenous
but still polite enough to let you know
they’re watching

poetry

masked Americans

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masked Americans

we’re a nation of outlaws
bandanas pulled up to our eyeballs
or faces defiantly bare
we don’t take orders kindly
them who’re crafty will survive
and for them that don’t
there’s a mass grave waiting
the potter’s field
a place where people
become bodies
become numbers
become liabilities
and while we’re all distracted
hand-sewing cloth masks
the usual suspects are
making off with our future
breath sold to the highest bidder
toilet paper $16 a pack
elections continued
though voting’s impossible
next the disease
will get its own ™

poetry

saying no to family

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saying no to family

we’ll come up and see you
they say with easy smiles

and we say nothing
in these days
when the whole world has gotten
as small as our front door
and good intentions mean nothing
with death on everyone’s hands

we’ll see
we finally say
(meaning no)

see you soon!
they reply
not understanding the difference
between family and household
or how they’re asking us
to put their lives in our hands