Plague Poems – The Two-Hundred-and-Thirteenth Week

When you hear them say
(and you will hear them say)
that avian influenza
only poses a risk
to farm workers
do not reply by telling them
“for now”
no, instead remind them
(and remind yourself)
that farm workers are people too.

*

If you are wondering
why so many are willing
to protect their eyes
with special glasses
during an eclipse
but refuse
to protect their health
with a respirator
during a pandemic
just remember
that eclipses last minutes
while pandemics last years.

*

What fools
our ancestors were
to believe a stellar event
was a reason to worry
we are wiser
for we listen to the scientists
when they tell us an eclipse
is no cause for concern
and when the scientists tell us
we should worry
about a virus or the climate
we simply ignore them.

*

I know, my friend,
that you spent the afternoon
staring at the sky
but an eclipse is not a sign
of something wrong
terribly wrong with the world
no, to see such a sign
you do not need to look up
you just need to look around you
please, my friend,
please just look around you.

*

Editorial Note: This is a collection of Plague Poems written between April 6, 2024 and April 12, 2024.

They were initially posted online on X/Twitter at @plaguepoems, on Mastodon at @plaguepoems@mastodon.social, on Bluesky at @plaguepoems, on Threads at @plague_poems, and on Instagram at @plague_poems.

Throughout the duration of this crisis new poems will be posted regularly at the above mentioned accounts, they will then be collected and reposted here as weekly compendiums.

*

Standardized tests
no longer feature analogies
but for what it’s worth
please note that
eclipse is to
“why do my eyes hurt?”
as
pandemic is to
“why am I always sick?”

*

My aunt, the doctor,
told me a new joke.
she asked:

What do you call
our current response
to the bird flu outbreak
amongst cattle?

I said I did not know.
And so she answered.

You call it
an udder disaster.

And then neither of us laughed.

*

Exaggerations help no one
so you must not say
that avian influenza
is already everywhere
for that simply is not true
it has only been found
in 513 counties
in 48 states
which is many wheres
but not yet everywhere.

*

Is it time to panic?
No, it is not time to panic.
Rather it is time
to pay careful attention.
Granted, even this
is too much to ask
of most people.

*

According to the news
a possible explanation
for the bird flu outbreak
among cattle
is that some of the feed
cattle are given
includes bird waste
and at risk of being crass
it just seems like doing that
was obviously
was really obviously
was really obviously a shitty idea.

*

“They’re trying
to make bird flu
the new COVID”
is a predictable cry
from those
who have spent
years trying
to make COVID
the new cold.

*

Oh brave rebel
how courageously you declare
you will not comply!
You go to work sick, refuse to test,
never mask, and socialize freely,
all in valiant adherence
to the current guidance.
Oh brave revel
you say you will not comply
but what you mean
is you will not be inconvenienced.

*

Don’t admit you’re afraid
you don’t want them
to call you chicken.

Keep your predictions positive
you don’t want to be accused
of being chicken little.

Better yet, look away,
it’s unpleasant to think
this bird flu outbreak
might be a sign
that our chickens
are coming home to roost.

*

For the sake of clarity
the American Association
of Bovine Practitioners
has renamed H5N1 in cattle:
Bovine Influenza A Virus,
so you no longer need
to worry about bird flu in cattle
now you just need to worry about
avian influenza and bovine influenza
and, of course, Covid too.

*

I read a new study
connecting the rise
in cancer rates
among young people
to “accelerated aging”
and as I read it
I kept thinking back
to a study I had read
a few years ago, titled:
“Accelerated biological aging
in COVID-19 patients,”
but I’m sure this
is just a coincidence.

*

When he asks
why I’m wearing a mask
I tell him it’s because
if there is someone here
wearing a mask
I don’t want
them to feel alone
and when he points out
that I’m currently
the only one masked
I look at him and say
yes, but that could change.

*

My aunt, the doctor,
told me a new joke.
She asked:

Why did the chicken
cross the road?

I said I did not know.
So she answered:

Because conditions
at factory farms
make it easy for infections
to cross the road
from one species to another.

And then neither of us laughed.

*

Even with access to the best
doctors and interventions
money can buy
the wealthy man admitted
his lungs have lasting damage
from the virus,
but we who can’t afford the best
doctors and interventions
our lungs are fine
we tell ourselves they’re fine
please, god, let them be fine.

*

When first I saw the headline
which read “Seriously,
now is the time
to stop kissing sick birds”
I was so certain it was satirical
I was so certain it was fake
that I checked and checked it again
only to be reminded
that satire cannot keep pace
with our current realities.

*

Should you voice concerns
you will be accused
of crying wolf
and should you point out
that clearly something
is happening
that clearly something concerning
is happening
at multiple dairy farms
they will roll their eyes
and accuse you
of crying cow.

*

Anxious generation
young people today
are such an anxious generation
at least that is what we say
as we blithely ignore the crisis
and the plague
and the catastrophe
and all the tragedies
which will cause
a generation of anxiousness
in anyone
who is responsive to the world.

*

*

Plague Poems…the following week

Plague Poems…the first week

Plague Poems…the full list

 

About Z.M.L

“I do not believe that things will turn out well, but the idea that they might is of decisive importance.” – Max Horkheimer librarianshipwreck.wordpress.com @libshipwreck

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