Plague Poems – The Hundred-and-Sixty-Third Week

They say don’t be
too presumptuous
all of this is new
nobody can honestly tell you
what will happen to you
after you’ve had it
ten or twenty times,
and that’s fair enough
for you don’t know how you’ll be
(or if you’ll be)
after ten or twenty times
but better not to risk
having to find out.

In the pandemic’s first year
someone ludicrously suggested
sunlight as a cure
a muddled allusion to the saying
“sunlight is the best disinfectant”
and though we know sunlight
does not destroy the virus
these days some sunlight
would be preferable
to being always in the dark.

Though I do not miss
staring at a computer screen
now that our meetings
are back in person
I find that I miss the days
when I was not in a room
with sick coworkers,
I also miss getting to see
their pets wander on screen,
but mostly I miss
not being in a room
with sick coworkers.

They would like it
if you did not refer
to the new variants
by their nicknames
and more than this
they would like it
if you did not refer
to the virus at all.

Editorial Note: This is a collection of Plague Poems written between April 22, 2023 and April 28, 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 friend is concerned
that social media algorithms
are suppressing mentions
of the plague’s name
and while it may be
that something was tweaked
how comforting it is
to blame nefarious code
instead of remembering
that of late most people
are simply ignoring
the persistent plague.

The television show
with the mushroom zombies
was very popular,
for a few weeks there
it seemed like everyone
was watching it,
and now on their website
the CDC notes
“COVID-19 likely increases
the risk
of fungal infections”
so evidently the plague
was a fan of that show too.

I keep seeing headlines
lamenting how this or that
musician or band
has had to postpone a concert
or cancel their tour entirely
due to a “mystery illness”
and each time I see those headlines
I think to myself: “mystery illness”
so that’s what we’re calling it now.

My colleague insists
that this year the pollen is bad
the pollen is just really bad
which surely explains
why this year
her usual allergy symptoms
are so much more
like flue and cold symptoms
really, it has to be the pollen
it just has to be the pollen.

I used to try
to keep track
of all the significant milestones
not just the incalculable losses
but every time another
ten thousand mark was passed
at first
the numbers were everywhere
then you had to search for them
but these days the incalculable
is no longer being calculated.

The old sign
the one saying masks required
has been taken down
and in its place
a new sign
one saying masks are optional
has been put up
but if you choose
the option to wear one
multiple people will ask you
if you saw the sign.

They never gave us much
a bit of extra money
some unemployment assistance
a couple rounds of test kits
a little, yes, but not much
though it is tempting now
to look back fondly
at what was given
seeing as now
they no longer even bother
to pretend to give a damn.

There is much that remains
unknown
about the latest variants
do they have peculiar symptoms
can they spread more easily
are they able to evade immunity
might they be more deadly
much remains unknown
but it is safe to assume
their most worrisome feature
is not their nicknames.

A response
to the reader
who asked me
how much longer
I plan on doing this for:

The plan
is to keep doing this
for one more week
just one more week
and if you ask me again
next week
I will give you
the exact same answer.

Of course, I know
that it isn’t a real language
just some useful nonsense
concocted by a counselor
to sell self-help books
but nevertheless I will say
that my love language
is fighting the plague.

I used to struggle
to suspend my disbelief
when consuming science fiction
set in the near future
but I no longer wonder
how in the next five years we invent
flying cars or human-like robots
no, what makes these works
feel so unrealistic to me
is that in them
the pandemic is over.

Considering the materials
that they are made of
masks are surprisingly heavy
they crush your nose
they pull on your ears
they leave your neck sore
they are a heavy weight
but I swear they were lighter
back when there were more of us
carrying that weight.

According to the WHO
“An estimated
one in ten infections
results
in post-COVID conditions
suggesting
that hundreds of millions
of people
will need longer term care”
which, quite frankly,
is not particularly poetic
but which reminds us
of the cost
of living with the virus.

When I finished
after it was officially
defended and deposited
a friend asked me
what the hardest part had been
and honestly
it was not the research
it was not the writing
it was not the solitude
it was doing all those things
while trying to survive
this plague.

I have been work-shopping
my response
for some time
it is good to be ready
with an appropriate reply
one both explanatory and polite
thus, I have been work-shopping
my response,
and I can confidently say
when asked
“why are you wearing a mask”
the best reply
is to cough loudly.

When they tell you
that you must live your life
respond by telling them
that you completely agree
and that, furthermore,
you believe it is essential
to live in the moment
and if they are confused by this
feel free to add
that you believe
in living in the moment
and in this moment
there is still a plague.

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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