Plague Poems – The Hundred-and-Ninety-First Week
How sad it is
(my great aunt says)
to live in a world
where there is so much
to protest against.
Yes, how sad it is
(I tell my great aunt)
but how much sadder
it would be
if no one bothered
to protest at all.
*
I saw an advertisement
from a pharmacy chain
which declared
“The pandemic is over,
But COVID-19
is here to stay,
In fact, it’s still among
the top 5 leading causes
of death in the US”
and I can’t help but think
that their last point
contradicts their first point.
*
A friend of mine
post a link
beneath the quotation
“What we are seeing now
may become much worse”
and though the person
who spoke those words
had a particular
catastrophe in mind
there are worse ways
to describe our era, than
“What we are seeing now
may become much worse.”
*
I know, my friend
you are trying to comfort me
when you insist
“what doesn’t kill you
only makes you stronger”
but my face is so thin
my exhaustion is constant
my mind still gets stuck in fog
I am relieved
that the plague didn’t kill me
but my friend
it didn’t make me stronger.
*
Editorial Note: This is a collection of Plague Poems written between November 4, 2023 and November 10, 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.
*
Young people today
are too depressed
things are not perfect
but they’re not so bad
young people today
just need to ignore
the catastrophe
and the pandemic
the climate
and the hatred
yes, if young people today
would just ignore all that
they’d see that things
really aren’t so bad.
*
Survey data
from the US Census Bureau
suggest that around
14% of Americans
developed Long COVID
though it remained unclear
how many out of
the remaining 86%
would say that these days
nothing tastes right
nothing smells right
and that they’re always tired.
*
My friend insists
she no longer trusts
what officials say
about the catastrophe
she has heard
all of the statements
but she has seen the pictures
and she knows
when she is being lied to,
she no longer trusts
what officials say,
except when they tell her
the pandemic is over.
*
My father taught me
to keep things in perspective
no matter the crisis
no matter the tragedy
he used to always say
“it could be worse”
and he was usually right
but of late he just says
“it already is worse”
though I often worry
his former line
is still more accurate.
*
I know, my friend
you are so tired
of reminding others
that we are in
the fourth year
of the pandemic
but things are changing
yes, they are changing,
quite soon, my friend,
you will instead
find yourself reminding others
that we are in
the fifth year
of the pandemic.
*
These days
when I look at my friends
I cannot tell
if their red eyes
if their hunched shoulders
if their hoarse voices
if their exhausted features
are a result
of the virus or grief.
*
What is to you
a number
a statistic
is to someone
a voice
a smile.
*
How comforting it would be
if we could blame the plague
for how we have forgotten
our humanity
after all, studies have shown
that the plague
can damage the mind
impacting memory
and leading to forgetfulness,
yes, it would be comforting
if we could blame the plague
for that.
*
Nobody bothers
to talk about the plague
at least not anymore
they talk instead about
how they’re always sick
how their friends are sick
how nothing tastes right
how nothing smells right
how their mind is foggy
how they’re exhausted
but nobody bothers
to talk about the plague.
*
When feeling unwell
responsible parties
cancel their plans out of
“an abundance of caution”
and while such a choice
is certainly to be applauded
perhaps if there had been
“an abundance of caution”
to begin with
the worrying symptoms
might have been avoided.
*
After we spoke
I apologized to my sister
for being such a downer
I told her I was out of it
just really out of it
assuming she’d figure
I meant I was simply tired
though I suspect
she might be able to tell
that what I am out of
is hope.
*
I often worry
that the longer it lasts
the less attention it receives
already people are over it
those with the luxury to
are moving on to other things
catastrophes are long
attention spans are short
before the dead are buried
we have already forgotten
what the it stood for.
*
My colleague
has caught it again
but she’s not frustrated
if anything, she’s glad
between coughs she explains
that it’s good
she has caught it now
as that means she’ll be fine
she’ll definitely be perfectly fine
by Thanksgiving
and I want to tell her
that’s not how this works.
*
The professor tells me
that her students
are all sick
these days she lectures
to a half empty room
and those few students
who come to class
just sit there coughing
in a tired voice she tells me
the pandemic is over
yes, it’s all over her campus.
*
A quote
on The Lancet’s cover
declares “The level
of criminal incompetence
exposed by recent witnesses
to the UK COVID-19 Inquiry…
has proven that many
if not most
of over 230,000 deaths
were preventable”
but here in the US
our leaders know better
than to allow such inquiries.
*
It is not
within your power
to end suffering
the world is large
and filled with horrors
while you are small
and filled with doubts
it is not
within your power
to end suffering
and yet it is
within your power
to cause less suffering
so please
at least try to do that.
*
*
Plague Poems…the following week
About Z.M.L
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Fantastic stuff this week.