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

I often wonder
when it will be
that my efforts
will have been enough
when I can stop
with all of these precautions
once and for all
and go back to the life
that I once led
but as I do not know
when that shall be
for now I am trying
just to do enough
to survive another week.

*

I read a headline
stating that a study had found
“Catching COVID
gives protection
from its worst effects”
and while I lack the expertise
to truly evaluate the study
I believe that there are
several million people
whose deaths dispute that claim.

*

I know it takes time
to get over things
it took nearly a year
for me to get over
a relationship’s end
it took several months
for me to get over
not being offered a job
look, I get that it takes time
to get over things
but it never used
to take this long
for me to get over a cold.

*

After several years
those in charge
have finally learned how
to keep the case numbers
and transmission levels low:
stop counting.

*

Editorial Note: This is a collection of Plague Poems written between February 18, 2023 and February 24, 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.

*

At the pandemic’s start
I bought a new bed frame
it was a cheap one
but the choices were limited
and my finances low
so I told myself
it didn’t have to last long
it just had to outlast the pandemic
and now I can add my bed frame
to the list of things
the pandemic has outlasted.

*

When I finally got around
to closing all my open tabs
I came across an article
that I could immediately tell
was several years old
for it spoke
of thousands of weekly deaths
with the sort
of sadness and horror
that have long since given way
to indifference.

*

Better to wear
a white mask
than to wave
a white flag.

*

While researching
a historic disaster
I came across a report
which asked
“what will we learn
as a society
and a species
from all of this?”
and though I know
the report was talking
of a different crisis
if asked now
I cannot help but fear
that our answer
would be “nothing.”

*

Calls to clean the air
must be opposed
for they would start us down
a very slippery slope,
sure it may start
with cleaning the air
but what’s next:
clean water or clean energy?
That is a dangerous path
better to tell everyone
that they are lucky
just to be breathing.

*

He tells me that solidarity
has become his sole focus
he has little interest
in personal projects
wanting only to talk
of strikes and actions
and while I share his politics
I find it unfortunate
that he does not seem to understand
how wearing a mask
is also an act of solidarity.

*

Oh, there is a fifth horseman
one we do not see
he sits not on a horse
but in a chair
his name is complacency.

*

At this point
the supply chain issues
have been fixed
there’s lots of toilet paper,
you can find a thermometer,
and most of the stores
have full shelves
yes, at this point
the supply chain issues
have been fixed
so there must be
some other explanation
for the empathy shortage.

*

I asked my friend
the playwright
when she thought
the pandemic would end
and she replied
that the pandemic will end
the day after
Godot arrives,
and I told her
that this sort of answer
is why so few people
ask playwrights
for their opinions.

*

How difficult it is for life
to get back to normal
when this moment’s
third leading cause
of death
did not exist
in that past normal
that you are so very desperate
to return to.

*

I freely admit
that I lack the necessary expertise
to properly tell you
how worried you should be
about avian influenza
though I know enough
about disasters to fear
that we are sorely lacking
in the social cohesion
that would be necessary
to handle another yet catastrophe.

*

Even if
I actually wanted to
it would be impossible
for me to wear a mask
forever
after all, a human’s life is finite
it does not last forever
and it is because I understand
how limited is the time
afforded to me
that I am trying
not to cut that time short.

*

Be honest
somewhere in your home
is a box filled with
screws and allen wrenches
for furniture you no longer own
and elsewhere in your home
is a drawer overflowing
with old cables and cords
so, really, you might as well
hang on to some masks
at least those you’ll actually need.

*

Should you see a headline
asking the question:
“Is the United States
ready
for back-to-back pandemics?”
just remember
that Betteridge’s law of headlines
clearly states
any headline ending
in a question mark
can be answered with a “no.”

Not that you
needed Betteridge to know.

*

And though
there will be many days
when you feel helpless
you must not allow
this to convince you
that you should help less.

*

When you reflect
on the pandemic
there is nothing to be gained
by devoting any energy
to survivor’s guilt
for to do so
would be to misunderstand
the moment you are presently in
for it is till too early
to call yourself a survivor
you are still just trying
to survive.

*

*

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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