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

At first, I told myself
that I just had to make it
to the summer
then I told myself
that I just had to make it
to the vaccine
after that I told myself
that I just had to make it
to the first booster
then to the second booster
and now I just try
to make it through each week.

When I received the PSA
advising switching to bottled water
due to a spill of contaminants
I made haste to the store
where I stood in a long line
holding bottled water
to protect me from
the waterborne hazard
while wearing a mask
to protect me from
the airborne virus.

There are words
always plenty of words
sorrowful words
and angry words
defeated words
and prayerful words
but mostly
there are just names
just even more names
on gravestones.

In the midst
of a calamitous age
you must learn
to speak
and choose your words
very carefully
otherwise no one
will be able to tell
over which tragedy
you are grieving.

Editorial Note: This is a collection of Plague Poems written between March 25, 2023 and March 31, 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.

We read the headlines
about the latest tragedy
and worry
that we have become numb
to mass death
while we sit here
in the fourth year of a pandemic
the death toll of which
no longer makes headlines.

Three years ago
they told us
that all of this would be over
by Easter
but now they have learned
the danger of such predictions
so instead they pretend
that it is already over.

All around me
everyone is saying
that they are afraid
it is about to get
worse, much worse, even worse,
and I shudder
for their are so many things
far too many things
to which their “it” could refer.

New studies suggest
that in many cases
the plague
has done lasting damage
to people’s immune responses
though we have known
for quite some time
that in many cases
the plague
has done lasting damage
to people’s empathetic responses.

I have heard it said
that over the next 3 years
it is expected
that the average person
will contract the virus
between 6-9 times
and despite the smirks
those numbers usually solicity
I assure you, this isn’t nice.

I claim no expertise
when it comes to the complexities
of fashion and trends
I do not fully understand
the rules of the runway
or how they trickle down
nevertheless I must say
I preferred when the fashion
was everyone wearing masks
to this new trend
of everyone looking sickly.

I used to joke
that I would not live
long enough
to be able to pay off
all my student loans
and now as I look
at what this plague has done
to life expectancy
I say again
that I will not live
long enough
to be able to pay off
all my student loans
but I am no longer joking.

You can ask them
how many more must die
before they do something,
you should ask them
how many more must die
before they do something,
but you should not expect
to be satisfied
by their response.

The emergency
ends, and the President has
yet another cold.

My apologies
I do not mean to romanticize
a bygone age
I know that the past
was far from an idyllic paradise
yet even still I must admit
I pine for those good old days
when everyone I knew
did not have a strange cold
at the end of March.

I will not lie about it
yes, I am concerned
about letting my guard down
but more than that
I understand
that there are so many people
who have been abandoned
by friends and lovers
by leaders and employers
by family and institutions
and so I am trying my best
not to let them down.

I wholeheartedly agree
it is certainly
an indictment
of our institutions
and, indeed, of our society
that the plague continues
to sow death and destruction
though, alas, I suspect
this is not the indictment
that everyone is so worked up about.

This is “one to watch”
a stern voice warned.

“I don’t know who said that,
but I don’t see anything.”
replied the ostrich.

Climate scientists
say time is of the essence
and epidemiologists
say the virus is evolving
but you must not blame
the latest news
for distracting us
from those crises
for such blaming might create
the mistaken impression
that until now we
had been paying attention to them.

When the pandemic began
there was a moment
in which we briefly sewed together
something of a safety net
it was patchwork and thin
too small and not without holes
nevertheless it was something
but that was long ago
and now, just like the virus,
we have simply let it rip.

Yes, of course,
there are legitimate
biological explanations
for how it is that bats
survive while playing host
to so very many viruses
though it undoubtedly helps
that bats do not have
cable news and divisive politicians.

Take a picture
of your masked face
of your friends’ masked faces
and put it in your photo album
alongside the images
of trips and celebrations
so you will remember
so you will have photographic proof
that life is not all
trips and celebrations
there are also plagues.

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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