Plague Poems – The Hundred-and-Fifty-Second Week

While it is refreshing
to see so many people
grow concerned
about an airborne threat
I just wish
that what worried them
was the plague
and not a balloon.

I have heard it said
that we are unprepared
woefully unprepared
for the next pandemic
but look around you
we are not prepared
for the current pandemic either.

After several years
of living with
a dangerous respiratory pathogen
one would think
that we would be prepared
for the threat of another
after all, we have had time
to perfect mitigation techniques
one would think
we would be prepared
yes, one would think that.

I asked my friend
the rabbi, if there is a prayer
to say over the bird flu
and she replied that
yes, there is a prayer
to say over the bird flu:
may we reach the year’s end
able to say that the bird
flew right by us.

Editorial Note: This is a collection of Plague Poems written between February 4, 2023 and February 10, 2023.

They were initially posted online on Twitter at @plaguepoems, on Mastodon at @plaguepoems@mastodon.social, 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.

I agree with you
my concerned friend
we should all of us
be worried by the news
that a virus
has claimed the lives
of millions of birds
though I fear most
will ignore these deaths
just as they ignore
the virus that
has claimed the lives
of millions of people.

I recognize that you freel
that so much, that too much,
has been asked of you
and I understand that you
(like all of us) are very tired
but I sincerely believe
that asking you
to not handle dead birds
is really not asking too much.

When finally
we see each other again
she tells me that I look
like I’ve seen better days
and though, of course,
I understand the meaning
of her colloquialism
I must admit that I truly think
that all of us
have seen better days than these.

Though I recognize
that they are not
a native avian species
to this continent
I cannot help but think
that if this country wished
to select a bald headed bird
that truly represented the nation
it should have gone
with the ostrich
and not the bald eagle.

Perhaps it’s just me
but as I watched
the President’s address
I could not help but think
that I was hearing
the sound of coughing
a fair amount of coughing
in that crowded chamber
filled with unmasked faces.

But as I said
perhaps that’s just me.

A colleague sent me an article
that cruelly stated
those wearing masks
are unattractive
but as the old canard goes
beauty is in the eye of the beholder
and at least to me
there is nothing more beautiful
than someone
who gives a damn about others.

How different
our perception of the pandemic
might possibly be
if instead of just saying
“the pandemic”
we instead always referred to it
as “the pandemic
that has killed more than
6.8 million people.”

The pandemic has taught us
that we
have been getting the myth
of Cassandra entirely wrong
and it is not that her
accurate warnings
were not believed
but that her warnings
were heard and understood
but those who heard them
just did not care.

If you can spare the money
you might as well
put in an order
for more masks
if we are very lucky
and you don’t wind up
needing them
to protect yourself
from the bird flu
you can still use them
for the current pandemic.

In this season
a mask is a fine way
to keep your nose warm
though regardless
of the thickness of your sweater
there is nothing you can wear
to protect you
from the cold emptiness
you feel in your stomach
when you look around
and see that so many
can’t be bothered to mask.

Going through old notebooks
I came across my resolution
from the start of 2020:
“stop going to so many restaurants”
and while I suppose it is good
to have stuck with
that resolution
I would have much preferred it
if world conditions had not
forced me to succeed.

I have heard it said
that “No one
really wants to talk
about COVID anymore”
and I suppose that is true
for who really wants
to have to keep talking
about this horrid virus,
though the real issue
is not that no one
wants to talk about the virus
but that no one
wants to listen.

I asked my aunt
the doctor
if she is concerned
about the bird flu
and she replied
that we should not
“cluck around and find out”
and we both agreed
that wasn’t very funny.

I am blessed
to have such good friends
the type who respect
my decisions
and would never pressure me
to drink or smoke
yes, I am blessed
to have such good friends
though I wish that they
would not keep pressuring me
to go out with them
and catch the virus.

If it was just the plague
you could live with it
of course it would be dangerous
a far from ideal situation
but, nevertheless, just the plague
you could live with that
no, the problem isn’t
that each of us
must live with the plague
but that we
must live with each other.

While sifting through
boxes of archival material
I came across an envelope
an old manila one
with a label in blue ink reading
HOPE
so if you, like me,
have been searching for that
just know it can be found
in box 53 of the Finkle papers.

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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