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

In disaster’s wake
we behold the destruction
and shudder at the news
of communities destroyed
of livelihoods obliterated
of homes turned to ash
of lives ended
but there are always some
who look at all of this
and declare that the real tragedy
was that their vacation was ruined.

*

A prominent doctor advises
“We will get new variants
They will cause increases
in infections
The answer is the same
Keep up w vaccines
Get treated if infected
Use masks and tests if you wish
And don’t worry
about every new variant”
this has not worked
thus far
but why change now.

*

They keep saying
you don’t need to worry
you don’t need to really worry
as long as you are up to date
on your boosters
which would be reassuring
except unfortunately
another wave is here
and the new boosters are not.

*

If you asked me
five years ago
what kind of person
would walk over
a dying man
on their way to
a mountain’s top
I would say I did not know
but as I sit here now
watching so many
refuse to do anything
to protect each other
from the virus
I fear such unkind people
are everywhere.

*

Editorial Note: This is a collection of Plague Poems written between August 12, 2023 and August 18, 2023.

They were initially posted online on Twitter at @plaguepoems, on Mastodon at @plaguepoems@mastodon.social, on Threads at @plague_poems, 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 cousin is excited
to start college next week
she has picked a major
and registered for courses
she bought a mini fridge
and some new outfits
I ask if her roommate seems nice
she says her roommate seems nice
they spoke yesterday
and her future roommate has
a bad summer cold.

*

He leaned in close
and politely inquired
why I was wearing a mask
and I was tempted to
say something about the surge,
comment on those at risk,
or make a self-deprecating joke,
but I am tired, so all I said
is that if anyone else
was masking
I did not want them to be alone.

*

Please, you must be careful
it is only August
should you have to use up
all your sick days now
you won’t have any left
if you come down
with the virus again
in the fall or winter
oh, but who am I kidding
it’s not like any of us
have sufficient sick days anyways.

*

By now
you’ve probably heard it said
that “the latest
coivd-19 variant
does not pose a serious threat
to most people”
but please bear in mind
there are many people
who were confident
that they belonged
to that “most people”
until they became sick.

*

After I told him
at yesterday’s meeting
that I was wearing a mask
so that anyone else masking
would not be alone
he arrived at today’s meeting
wearing a mask
and though we were but two
in a room of seventy
for a brief moment
I remembered how hope feels.

*

You’ve been told
that you are responsible
for calculating your own risk
but should you try to do so
you will see it noted that
“Due to limited testing,
the number of confirmed cases
is lower
than the true number of infections”
so good luck
making your calculations.

*

I keep seeing comments
from concertgoers
who swiftly after the performance
found that they could not
shake off the virus
evidently they had forgotten
that all of us
are still in our plague era.

*

Years ago
before all of this
I got coffee with a friend
who studies disasters
and when I asked him
about his research
he said it was an exciting time
to be studying disasters
as everything was falling apart
and then he got very quiet
years later
I still think of this often.

*

I confess
that I have not read
each and every single one
of the articles asking
if now is the time
to start wearing a mask again
though it seems significant
that so many news outlets
feel compelled
to once more ask this question.

*

She cornered me
in the stairwell
to tell me she knows
she should wear a mask
but she is worried
that doing so might result
in people treating her oddly
and I was unsure
for I had just been treated oddly
by a coworker
who had decided
to corner me in a stairwell.

*

When a virus is described
as “seasonal”
I did not realize that meant
that you could catch it
in each of the four seasons.

*

When commenting on
their response
to this or that crisis
it is unwise to state
“our leaders failed us”
for this statement places
the failure in the past
it is more accurate to say
our leaders are failing us
for the crises
and the failures
continue.

*

When I see images of people
sitting there
standing there
watching
as the fires grow closer
I want to shout at them
“don’t just sit there
don’t just stand there
run, run while you still can”
but in a way I too am
sitting here
standing here
watching
as the fires grow closer.

*

Upon opening
the WHO’s dashboard
I was greeted by a message
announcing that “Starting
from the week
of 7 August 2023,
the Region of the Americas
has stopped
sharing the COVID-19
cases and deaths updates”
which is certainly one way
to make it seem
like the plague is over.

*

According to some reports
a new variant
that could be named Pi
is already circulating
in the United Kingdom
but let us all hope
that those reports are wrong
after all, as you likely remember
from math class
Pi goes on forever.

*

I know, my friend,
that it feels to you as if
having to take
precautions again
is a huge step
just a huge step backwards
but please consider
that when you find yourself
standing at the edge of a cliff
a huge step backwards
is exactly what is needed.

*

*

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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