Plague Poems – The Hundred-and-Ninety-Sixth Week
I keep hearing people say
that it used to be different
that it wasn’t always like this
that before the pandemic
everyone wasn’t so sick
all of the time
and I know they’re right
but I worry
that I’m starting to forget
what it used to be like
before the pandemic.
*
I saw a headline
which alarmingly asked:
“What’s the deal
with that cough
everyone seems to have
right now?”
and I cannot tell
if people really don’t know
the answer to that question
or that they know the answer
but don’t want to admit
that we are still in a pandemic.
*
He says he know
that he should wear a mask
especially right now
but it’s just easier
and more convenient
not to do so
and while I can acknowledge
that masks are not always
easy or convenient
this virus can make it so
that nothing is ever
easy or convenient for you.
*
Doctors often say
that when you hear hooves
your first thought
should be horses
and not zebras
which is a wise observation
but it’s worth remembering
that pestilence
does not ride a zebra
but a horse.
*
Editorial Note: This is a collection of Plague Poems written between December 9, 2023 and December 15, 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.
*
It remains unclear
whether or not
you would jump
off of a cliff
just because all of your friends
are doing it
but at least now you know
whether or not
you would jump
into a plague filled room
just because all of your friends
are doing it.
*
“I was really sick”
the movie star declared
explaining why he decided to
direct his next film
from the safety of a tablet.
“I was really sick”
your coworker declares
explaining why he
kept coughing in the workplace
every single day last week.
*
I know they say
the emergency phase
of the pandemic is over
but I just heard
the German Minister of Health
say COVID “can affect
brain tissue and
the vascular system,
and we still lack
an effective treatment”
and that still sounds
like a description
of an emergency to me.
*
The headline asked
“Is it a cold, a super cold
or COVID?
And should I carry on
regardless?”
and by way of answering
allow me to suggest
that it is precisely because
so many of us choose
to “carry on regardless”
that we wind up wondering
why we are feeling so unwell.
*
The math professor tells me
that one of his students
asked if he’d give extra credit
if they wore a mask
to the final exam
and when I ask him
how he responded, he says
he told them he could not
give them extra credit
but if they wore one
they’d be a credit to humanity.
*
According to a Canadian study
of children infected
“during the Omicron surge…
40% were still infectious
on the day
after their symptoms resolved”
which is a finding to remember
when someone tells you
that they were sick yesterday
but today, today they’re fine.
*
She knows how it sound
(she knows how she sounds)
but she’s sure she doesn’t have it
she just knows she doesn’t
she doesn’t have COVID
she just has COVID like symptoms
and after she says this
I think to myself
“COVID like symptoms”
so that’s what we’re calling it now.
*
We must stop talking
about this virus
in terms of outbreaks
for such language
of breaking out
suggests and attempt to contain
an attempt that failed
and at this point
it is just dishonest
to pretend that anything much
is being done to contain the virus.
*
They keep insisting
that the plague
is on its last legs
finally with this wave
it’s definitely on its last legs
and while I’d love to believe them
wherever I look these days
I see the plague walking around
on plenty of legs.
*
Do not ask them
if they know anyone
who has Long COVID
instead ask
if they know anyone
who says their sense
of taste and smell are off,
that they are always tired,
that their mind is in a fog,
that they can’t shake their cold,
ask them
and watch them shudder
as they answer.
*
When you hear them say
(and you will hear them say)
that this plague
is just the flu
what they are telling you
is that the information
on this plague’s dangers
flew right past them.
*
I drove slowly
down the snowy road
but the driver behind me
tired of my caution
crossed the double line
and sped right past me
some time later
as I drove slowly
by the tow truck
pulling that driver from a ditch
I thought to myself
that it felt
like a metaphor for something.
*
The CDC
has put out a warning
stating “Providers:
Urgent need
to increase vaccination
against flu, COVID-19, RSV”
which does not make
for a particularly good poem
but in fairness
it does not make
for particularly good news either.
*
My memory of how it was
before the pandemic
has been getting worse
but I read a headline noting
“Cast of Netflix’s
most expensive movie of 2023
all
struck
down
with
sickness
on promo tour”
and for the life of me
I cannot recall
seeing such headlines
before the pandemic.
*
At some point between
the first and the fifth year
of the pandemic
we misplaced the letter L
in the first year we were busy
“flattening the curve”
and now at the beginning
of the fifth year we are again busy
“flattening the curve”
but this year without the L.
*
We are all of us
even now
during the pandemic
though only some of us
seem willing to acknowledge
that we are still
even now
enduring the pandemic.
*
*
Plague Poems…the following week
About Z.M.L
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