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

We blame the pandemic
for everything, it is at fault:
for our unsatisfactory jobs
and our dating prospects
for our children’s grades
and our political divisions.
Yes, we blame the pandemic
for everything, except that is
for how we and our friends
keep getting strangely sick.

*

According to the experts
when it comes to the bird flu
now is not the time
to panic
but rather the time
to pay attention
and while I understand
this is meant to be reassuring
the last several years
have greatly diminished my faith
in our ability to pay attention.

*

If employers are wondering
why it is
that they are experiencing
such a labor shortage of late
perhaps they should look
to the graveyard
for an explanation.

*

While I will admit
to finding the idea
of fresh eggs
to be rather nice
the idea of keeping chickens
no longer seems
all that appealing.

*

Editorial Note: This is a collection of Plague Poems written between February 25, 2023 and March 3, 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.

*

My brother in law sent me
an article and exclamation mark
filled message
declaring it to be proof
that the virus is a bio-weapon
though I must say
I find it rather confusing
how he can believe the virus
is a bio-weapon
but that all cases are mild
and no precautions are needed.

*

Reading the news
about avian influenza
may provoke a sense
of deja vu
like you are right back
where you were
at the end of February 2020
but do not be ridiculous
this is very different
after all in February 2020
you still believed
we could handle a pandemic.

*

A certain amount
of anthropocentrism
is hard to avoid
thus it is not real surprise
that we react to the news
about avian influenza
by worrying
that it will spread to us humans
and yet regardless of that
it still seems clear
that millions of dead animals
is not a good thing.

*

Every fifteen minutes
a voice asks everyone
in this airport
to watch our bags
and report suspicious activity
to keep everyone safe
and while I appreciate
this concern for our safety
while airborne
the voice has nothing to say
about keeping us safe
from the airborne virus.

*

Remember:
when they stop accurately reporting
the number of cases and deaths
over there
it is a sign of a serious coverup
however
when we stop accurately reporting
the number of cases and deaths
over here
it is just a sign that we’ve moved on.

*

Should I die
and find myself in purgatory
I will try to convince the angels
(or whoever is in charge there)
that, really, they should count
the plague years
as time already served.

*

As we slowly drive
through the neighborhood
the realtor points
to a factory in the distance
and comments that residents
in this area
used to complain
about an odd smell
from that facility
but in the last few years
there have been fewer complaints
and I simply reply “oh.”

*

She calls to ask
if I can run an errand for her
she would do it herself
but she has a cold
a very bad cold
the worst cold she has ever had
a cold that has made a ruin of her
and as I wrote down the details
of the errand, I think:
a cold
I guess that’s what
we’re calling it now.

*

Breaking up is difficult
I know that you’ve said
that you’re done
that you’ve moved on
that you’re living your life
that it’s over and you’re over it
you say these things
but with your actions
you really make it seem
like you are desperate
to get back together
with the plague.

*

How difficult it is
to make people understand
that we are not
out of the woods
quite yet
when they refuse to believe
that their being surrounded
by trees
is proof they are in the woods.

*

My friend
who studies antiquity
always differentiates
between BC and CE
while my friend
who studies disasters
has more recently started
to speak of BC and CE as well
and when I ask her
what ancient calamity
she is studying
she clarifies that she means
Before Covid and Covid Era.

*

When you know very little
about history
it is easy to miss
the many signs
when history
starts to repeat itself.

*

It’s time to admit we were wrong
when we argued
it was ridiculous to think
that to make the virus disappear
we just needed to stop counting
for the present moment shows
that strategy is quite effective
at banishing the virus
from our eyes
even as it persists in our bodies.

*

Of course, origins matter,
but how often it seems
that we discuss
how the virus emerged
over there
to deflect the conversation
away from
the social and institutional failures
over here.

*

Embarrassed and tired
he calls to ask
if he can borrow some money
and caught off guard
I unthinkingly reply
“I thought you had
a healthy savings,”
and with a sigh he answers
“yeah, I had a healthy savings
but that was back
when I was still healthy.”

*

Shortly after the pandemic
closed our table
my party’s cleric moved
when I ask her now
if she has found
another gaming group
she says no
for she has been too busy
with a new role-playing game
in which her character
tries to survive a plague
while navigating a collapsing society.

*

*

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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