Plague Poems – The Hundred-and-Sixtieth Week

Forgive me
but I must confess
that I do not find the claim
that this virus
which still ranks as the third
leading cause of death
is no longer a pandemic
but is instead endemic
to be particularly comforting.

It is easy to focus on negatives
yes, it is a tragedy
that so many died
that so many are still dying
but haven’t you heard?
all of these deaths mean
that Medicare
won’t run out of funds
quite as quickly
so please
stop thinking about the dead
and think instead
about the economy.

When I was young
and I could not focus
I would apologize
to my teachers
and explain that my head
was just in the clouds.

Now that I am old
and I struggle to focus
I often apologize
to my students
and explain that my brain
is just fighting the fog.

My grandmother
used to always say
most people
are not bad
and most people
are not good
most people
are just exhausted
and good
requires energy.

Editorial Note: This is a collection of Plague Poems written between April 1, 2023 and April 7, 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.

When a younger colleague
asked me for career advice
I advised him
to never give up
and instead
to always try his very best
to always work his very hardest
to contract the virus
as few times as possible
and then I also gave him
some tips on cover letter writing.

If you have studied history
you know that walls
are not impermeable
they have been tunneled beneath
and climbed over
they have been smashed by sieges
and have crumbled over time
and though of course
a wall of immunity
is not a wall of stone
like all walls
it is not impermeable.

Looking through the window
I thought to myself
no one in there is masked
and a few seconds later
as I stood in line
on the other side of that window
I thought to myself
well, at least now
one person in here is masked.

When I watch tv shows
ones ostensibly set in the present
I find them so unrealistic
for none of the characters
seem constantly ill
or haunted by the pandemic
but then I think
perhaps the characters
are ill and haunted
but pretending to be fine
which would be quite realistic.

All around me
I hear accounts of people
falling quite ill
and yet everyone is certain
that whatever is they have
it is definitely not the virus
that has been plaguing us
but if that is true
all of these unseasonable illnesses
are really quite the coincidence.

It is a simple choice
we can allow the virus
to keep changing our brains
or we can decide
to at last change our minds
about complacently living
with the virus.

On the wall
next to the elevator
a colorful sign declares that
masks are always an option here
which I suppose is one way
of reminding us all
that at least in this building
catching the plague
is also always an option here.

For a fourth year
we gather
by way of computer screens
to recount our people’s tale
of freedom won
through ten plagues
and as we sit surrounded
by this ongoing plague
it may feel
that by just making it to
another year’s Seder
does not suffice,
but still we say dayenu,
it is enough.

Before the Seder
I asked my friend the rabbi
if there is a prayer to say
for Pesach during a pandemic
and she replied
yes, there is a prayer to say
for Pesach during a pandemic:
may God make the current plague
pass over us
just as God made the ten plagues
pass over our ancestors.

If at last night’s Seder
you could not taste
the bitterness
of the maror
or the sweetness
of the charoset
and if you have a headache
that cannot be attributed
to four glasses of wine
please go and get tested,
your ancestors
survived ten plagues
but you’re still surviving this one.

The other day
I attended a lecture
by a historian of medicine
in a room filled
with people eager to learn
about prevention in the past
though based on how few
masked faces I saw there
we clearly have much to learn
about prevention in the present.

Look, I get it,
we have all been there before
you want them to like you
so you decide
that you will just let them win
thinking that by doing so
you will make them like you back
really, I get it,
but please understand
the plague already likes you
you don’t need to let it win.

My friend borrowed an idea
from some guy named Harry:
read the end of a book first,
that way if anything happens to you
at least you’ll know
how your book ends,
and as I sat in bed reading
while feeling vaguely unwell
I flipped to the book’s final pages
just in case.

I confess
I am tired
so very tired
of wearing this mask
but more than that
I am tired
so very tired
of being asked
why I am still
wearing this mask.

I sit at the reception desk
for the rare book room
and dutifully inform
the researchers
that there are absolutely no
food or drinks permitted
in the rare book room
we must protect the materials
but when they ask I tell them
masks are optional
no real need to protect each other.

Now that flu season
has ended
there must be some other reason
that will help explain
why everyone around me
is complaining
about having a weird flu.

My apologies, I do not want
to make you feel even worse
but when you draw up your list
your very lengthy list
of our society’s failings
new pipelines and book bans
bigotry and corruption
school shootings and cruel laws
do not forget to include
the ongoing pandemic on the list.

I have heard it said
that the plague
can damage your nerves
while in some cases
this may result
in a tingling in the fingers
in a numbness in the body
perhaps this nerve damage
can help us to understand
why we have become
so numb towards each other.

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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