Plague Poems – The Hundred-and-Ninety-Seventh Week

When you hear them say
they had it and they were fine
keep listening
and they will talk of how
things smell and taste odd,
they’re always tired,
they can’t beat their cold,
they will insist
they had it and they were fine
but keep listening
and they’ll tell you
they aren’t fine.

*

I know, my friend,
that you remember
how they said the last wave
and the wave before that
and the one before that one
were each supposed to be
the final wave
but this time they’re certain
this time they really mean it
when they say this one
(this one!)
this one will be the last.

*

Puzzled by “The Case
of the Never-Ending Illness”
the subhead pondered
“Post-pandemic, winter
has become one big blur
of coughs and colds.
Did something change?”
and you need not be
Holmes or Fletcher to know
what has changed
is not the pandemic
but that we now pretend it is over.

*

Our politicians and
our journalists and
our employers and
our neighbors
all keep saying:
“the pandemic is over”
but the virus
clearly isn’t listening.

*

Editorial Note: This is a collection of Plague Poems written between December 16, 2023 and December 22, 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 wastewater data
is looking worrisome
and the reports from hospitals
aren’t sounding great
but if you are trying
to get a sense
of just how bad things are out there
all you need to know is that
the NYC Department of Health
is once more advising people
to wear masks.

*

I am not an expert
on giving gifts
if you want advice
on what to get your
partner or parents
children or friends
I don’t know what to tell you,
but as you finalize
your holiday plans
I would advise you
that nobody on your list
wants you to give them
the plague for Christmas.

*

The headline stated:
“COVID-19 v. Flu:
A ‘much more serious threat,’
new study
into long-term risks concludes”
which is a difficult message
to communicate to people
who have been assured
that the pandemic
has already concluded.

*

It has been months
indeed, it has been many months
since we were told
that the emergency phase
of the pandemic was over
but the CDC now warns:
hospitals and emergency rooms
might have no choice
but to ration care
by the end of the month
and what is that
if not an emergency.

*

There are two signs
in my veterinarian’s window
the first says
“masks are optional”
the second says
“we apologize for any delays
multiple employees
are currently out sick”
and I can’t help but think
that the first sign
explains the second sign.

*

Beyond the headline
stating that “Yes,
a Lot of People
Are Getting Sick Right Now”
I read the explanation that
“The culprits
are the usual suspects:
this year’s strains of
influenza, COVID, and RSV”
and I was struck
by the casualness with which
COVID has become
a usual suspect.

*

She keeps asking me
what I want for Christmas
and I keep responding
that I’ll think of something
it isn’t that I don’t know
what I want
but that I don’t know
how best to tell her
that what I really want
is for her to wear a mask again.

*

It is said
that history does not
repeat itself
but that sometimes
sometimes it rhymes
which is as good
a reason as any
to hate poetry.

*

Remember:
the WHO declared
the COVID-19
global health emergency
over on May 5, 2023
so don’t worry now
as they designate JN.1
a variant of interest
while recommending
universal masking
for health workers
and health facilities,
just remember:
the emergency is over,
it is over.

*

According to
the wastewater tracking
by the PMC19 dashboard
as we head into the holidays
“there is more
COVID-19 transmission today
than during 90.6%
of the pandemic”
which is one way of saying
that Santa Claus
isn’t the only thing coming to town.

*

I understand how you feel,
dear stranger, I know
you are sick of hearing about it,
you are sick of talking about it,
you are sick of seeing reminders of it,
I understand how you feel
but the problem is the virus
not the people reminding you
that the virus is still here.

*

In the fifth year
of the pandemic
it’s too much to expect anyone
to sacrifice their holiday plans
for the sake of personal safety
or to help stop the virus’s spread
in the fifth year
of the pandemic
we are done making
personal sacrifices
instead we prefer
to sacrifice each other.

*

In response
to my precautious ways
he told me “you’re in a cult”
and though I said nothing
nothing in that moment
I wish that I had replied
“we’re in a pandemic.

*

According to a headline
at the moment
“Covid infects 1 in 24
People in England and Scotland
as JN.1 Variant Spreads”
and though you may be far
quite far from England and Scotland
such headlines are a warning
that cheer
is not the only thing
being spread during this holiday.

*

Alarm bells ring
are you listening
in every lane
red eyes are glistening
a contagious sight
we’re feeling unwell tonight
walking in the pandemic’s fifth year.

*

I used to believe
we were better than this
that humanity was better than this
used to but no longer,
though I still believe
I still stubbornly believe
we could be better than this
that humanity could be better than this
and in that could
I place my remaining hope.

*

*

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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