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

There is pestilence
now war
and from both
so much death
someone please
go check the stables
to make sure
that famine is still tethered.

*

They ask me
how it is where I am
and I tell them honestly
it’s quiet
no protests or rallies
no flags being waved
no heated arguments
no one publicly weeping
it’s quiet
as if nothing is happening
it’s quiet
it’s terrible, the quiet.

*

My aunt, the doctor,
plainly states
that we are living
in a sick society
and when I ask her
if by this she means
that she’s seeing
more cases of the virus
or more rampant cruelty
she simply replies: yes.

*

I wish I could say
that I was surprised
by the indifference
to the suffering of others
yes, I wish I could say that,
but after these years spent
enduring the plague
tragically I cannot.

*

Editorial Note: This is a collection of Plague Poems written between October 14, 2023 and October 20, 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.

*

In the dark times
we are assured
that this too shall pass
even this too shall pass
yes, that may be,
but how many lives
too shall pass
in the course
of this too passing.

*

I tell him
that more than anything
I just feel nauseous
and my friend
my covid conscious friend
anxiously notes
that nausea is a symptom
of the current variants
but I tell him
it is not the virus
circulating in the world
but the state of the world
that is causing my nausea.

*

My grandmother used to say
that she was amazed
genuinely amazed
that humanity had survived
the twentieth century
and I sit here now
without grandchildren
without children for that matter
because I would be amazed
if humanity survives
the twenty-first century.

*

My masked friend confides
he is worried
that all this hell in the news
will make people forget
about the pandemic
sympathetically I remind him
that most people
had already forgotten
about the pandemic long ago.

*

Given everything
happening in this moment
all of these horrors
all of these injustices
one must still
continue to think
about the plague
for even amidst
all of these horrors
all of these injustices
the plague persists.

*

Friends keep telling me
that people can focus
on more than one
terrible thing at a time
and though I know
that this is true
the last few years
have made clear
that many people
refuse to even focus
on one
terrible thing at a time.

*

My neighbor
has taken down
the Halloween decorations
he put up a few weeks ago
the skeletons and ghosts
the corpses and blood
have been returned
to boxes in his garage
when I ask why he explains
that the world already has
more than enough
corpses and blood
at the moment.

*

How wretched it is
to feel as though
it is somehow inappropriate
to speak of
the lives being lost
to the plague
out of concern that doing so
might distract
from the lives being lost
in the catastrophe.

*

I have heard it said
that on average
people will not contract the virus
2 or 3 times per year
no, on average
people will only contract it
1.29 times per year
but I have searched my memory
and I cannot recall
another virus I’ve ever contracted
even 1.29 times per year.

*

I know, I know,
you cannot be bothered
to take any steps
to protect yourself
let alone to protect others
but according to a study
COVID infections
can damage the brains of dogs,
so if you are not willing
to take steps to protect people
please, do it for the dogs.

*

If I was able to
I would lend my hands
to you my friend
I would clasp your shoulder
I would take your hand
I would wipe your tears
if I was able to
I would lend my hands
to you my friend
but I must apologize
my hands are unavailable
for they are currently busy
holding my head.

*

While looking for images
for a presentation
I performed a search for
the triumph of progress
but the first picture
in my results
was Bruegel’s
the triumph of death
and as I stared
at that disturbing painting
I heard myself ask:
what is this, a morose poem.

*

My coworker jokes
that for Halloween
he’s going to come in
dressed up as me
it’ll be a simple costume:
normal work clothes
along with a mask,
and though I am tempted to say
that I’ll come in dressed as him
I don’t really want to dress up
as someone
whose had COVID five times.

*

Do not despair
especially now
you must not despair
what you are losing
in this moment
are not your hopes
but your false hopes
not that knowing this
makes this moment
any easier to endure.

*

The very serious people
will never forgive
the impassioned young
for having the temerity
to believe
that a better world is possible.

*

Someone wise
once observed
that in any population
10% are cruel
10% are kind
and the remaining 80%
are persuadable,
they were talking about
a different time
a different tragedy
but as I look around
I fear they may have been
exaggerating things
by saying that 10% are kind.

*

*

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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