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

I will admit
that I am tired
yes, I am very tired,
but my exhaustion is not
mask fatigue
or vaccine fatigue
or precaution fatigue
no, it is not even that I
am tired of living
with the virus
but rather that I
am tired of living
surrounded
by such indifference.

Seeing as they
are offering them for free
you really might as well
go ahead and order
another batch of test kits
but as you do so
do not forget
if they can send tests
they could also send masks
and if they can do this
they could also do more.

The leaders
and the pundits
and the celebrities
and the employers
and the institutions
and the schools
and the media
all insist
that you need not worry
about the virus
but tell me again, dear stranger,
about how those people
still taking precautions
have fallen for propaganda.

After four years
of the pandemic
you must now waste
hours and days
trying to find out
if your insurance provider
will cover the cost
of the medicine and shots
you need to protect yourself
which in some ways
really is a sign
that things have finally
gone back to normal.

Editorial Note: This is a collection of Plague Poems written between September 23, 2023 and September 29, 2023.

They were initially posted online on X/Twitter at @plaguepoems, on Mastodon at @plaguepoems@mastodon.social, on Bluesky at @plaguepoems, 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.

The shofar sounded
my fast was broken
and though I prayed
that my atonement
was sufficient for mine
to be one of the names
signed and sealed
for the coming year
in the book of life
I also prayed
that the seal on my mask
was sufficient as I sat
in that cough filled sanctuary.

A doctor warns
“Over the coming months,
more than 100,000
Americans will likely die,
mostly unnecessarily,
from respiratory infections”
but he of all people should know
the days when such losses
were considered incalculable
are behind us
even if the virus
is still in front of us.

If we are to prepare
to truly prepare
for the tripledemic
that potentially awaits us
this winter
we must first admit
that we still find ourselves
in the midst of a pandemic.

My neighbor
doesn’t understand
what the big deal is
it’s been years
and though he takes
no precautions
he hasn’t caught it
sure, he’s had a flu
five times in two years
and his daughter
can’t beat her cold
but he doesn’t understand
he just doesn’t understand
what the big deal is.

A new poll finds
that 15% of Americans
have had COVID
two or three times
which is certainly bad
but please bear in mind
the poll did not ask participants
if they have also had
the summer flu
or mystery bug
or the other things
we call it
when we don’t want to admit
we have COVID.

New research has found
that the virus can damage
mitochondrion
in the heart
in the kidney
as well as in the liver
but if it has been a long time
since you took a science class
and so you are unsure
what mitochondria do
please just know
this is not a positive finding.

Should a stranger ask you
why it is that you
are still wearing a mask
inform them that you
are on your way
to a masquerade
and if they proceed to ask you
what you are dressed as
reply that you are dressed as
a person
trying to survive a plague.

I have heard a representative
of the World Health Organization say
“Don’t wait
to get the vaccine
if you are in
an at-risk group”
but unfortunately
I have also heard a representative
of my local pharmacy say
“we don’t have
the vaccine available
check back next week.”

A headline
stated it quite plainly
“Long COVID is real.
Now the evidence
is piling up.”
and while it is encouraging
to see such serious coverage
how unfortunate it is
that we waited
until the bodies
and the ruined lives
had piled up
before paying attention.

The CDC estimates nearly
18 million Americans
experienced symptoms
of Long COVID
and that some
9 million Americans
are currently afflicted
with the condition
but how many millions more
insist they are fine
while quietly lamenting
how nothing
smells or tastes right anymore.

When reading surveys
about the pandemic
remember
to check the methodology:
what questions were asked
and how many people participated
how were participants contacted
and when was it conducted,
all of this, and also remember
those the virus has killed
cannot respond to surveys.

It is appropriate
that the phrase
“we have the tools”
sounds like the tagline
for a hardware store
for the tools exist
but they are costly,
on unreachable shelves,
and if you do manage
to get the tools
you will be told
that now that you have them
the rest is do it yourself.

When the odds
are one
in three hundred million
we are confident
that we will be that
lucky one
when it comes
to playing the lottery.

When the odds
are one
in about a hundred
we are confident
that we will not be that
unlucky one
when it comes
to playing with Long Covid.

When the news is bad
I can count on him
to send me videos
of flooding
of flailing
of flames
to which I respond by asking
where the videos are from
but this morning
when I asked the source
of his flooding footage
he replied in a new way
saying “I shot it
this is my street.”

Whether it is
water levels
or case numbers
that are rising
the plan
is to let you drown.

Should they ask you
(and they will ask you)
why you still insist
on wearing that damn mask
politely and patiently reply
that there are at risk people
in your life
and do not worry
this is no lie
for there are at risk people
in your life
even if you and they
don’t realize it.

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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