Plague Poems – The Two-Hundredth Week

By the fifth year
of the pandemic
it has become quite clear
that we cannot
“they have to make
their own decisions”
our way out of the pandemic
and yet here we are
trying that strategy anyways.

*

I asked my friend,
the professor,
how the conference went
and she replied
“everyone there was sick”
so then I asked her
if she is prepared
for the coming semester
and she replied
“everyone there will be sick.”

*

If you wish to know
how to differentiate
the pandemic’s fifth year
from the pandemic’s first year
you need only remember
that back in the first year
the idea that we could
make the virus vanish
if we stopped testing
if we stopped counting
was still considered unacceptable.

*

The headline read:
“COVID has resurged,
but scientists see
a diminished threat”
which certainly captures
how this society
prefers not to see
those among us
for whom the virus
remains a threat.

*

Editorial Note: This is a collection of Plague Poems written between January 6, 2024 and January 12, 2024.

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.

*

When I ask if she is ready
for the new semester
the professor responds
by describing holiday parties
and large family gatherings
that for the sake of safety
she skipped
but now she worries
that her classrooms will be
the superspreader sites
she spent her break avoiding.

*

He asked if it was just him
or if anyone else had noticed
that everybody everywhere
seems to have come down
with the mutant cold
and while I do not wish
to accuse him
of living in fear
how terrified of the virus
a person must truly be
if they do not even dare
to utter its name.

*

By this point
I know better than to think
that “wear a mask to protect others”
will resonate widely
after all, the pandemic has proved
that we are a selfish society
and yet given that, it is surprising
that “wear a mask to protect yourself”
does not seem to resonate either.

*

I tell her I can’t believe
that I am living in
the pandemic’s fifth year
but she insists that I
need to keep things in perspective
and so she reminds me
that the 20 warmest years on record
have all occurred in my lifetime
which I must admit
does not make me feel any better.

*

After many months
as the only masked rider,
on this morning’s bus
I had plenty of company,
several other respirators
a few surgical blue ones
even some cloth masks,
and though it felt good
to see so many masks
I could not help but see it
as a sign
of just how bad things are.

*

He is predicting it
yes, JN.1 is now dominant
but when that ends
when it is displaced
he is willing to wager
that at least one publication
will announce the news
with a headline stating
“Dear JohN.1”
which would be laughable
but whatever replaces it
will likely be even worse.

*

I read a headline
one which starkly noted
“There’s a Huge Covid Surge

Right
Now

and Nobody
is Talking About It”
but it isn’t true to say
that “nobody is talking about it”
it’s just that those
who are talking about it
are mocked, are ignored,
or are accused of living in fear.

*

I have heard it said
(we have all heard it said)
that adversity builds character
but here in the fifth year
of this ongoing pandemic
I truly believe
that I have built enough character.

*

I know you are busy
so allow me to save you some time
should you see a headline
one which provocatively asks
“Is It Dangerous
to Keep Getting COVID-19?”
please just know that the answer
to that question is yes.

*

Amidst plague
catastrophe and crisis
I found myself asking:
what are we doing to ourselves?
and as I searched for an answer
I stumbled across a report
revealing that bottled water
is filled with nanoplastics,
and I found myself asking:
what the fuck are we doing to ourselves?

*

After months without one
today I noticed she was masked
as we stood waiting
to use the photocopier
she told me she can’t afford
she just really can’t afford
to get sick
and I worry that in this land
very few of us can afford
very few of us can really afford
to get sick.

*

There are days, many days,
where I feel sick
of wearing a mask
where I feel sick
of hearing how people I know
are falling ill
where I feel sick
of being the only one
masked in the office
but then I remind myself
that at least I am not
literally sick
and that is what matters.

*

If they ask you
who it was that said
“COVID19 is still
a global threat
and we can’t wish it away…
Limit your exposure
as much as you can”
reply by telling them
that yes, who said that
and if they ask again
who said that
tell them it was a quote
and who said it first.

*

A prominent doctor asked:
“5 years,
10 years,
20 years from now,
what are we going to see
in terms of
cardiac impairment,
pulmonary impairment,
neurologic impairment?”
and while I do not know
the answer to that question
I imagine our response
will be to deny we are seeing it.

*

Remember!
The global health emergency
has ended, it’s over,
so when the WHO says
that based on wastewater data
the amount of plague circulating
is between 2 and 19 times greater
than the numbers being reported
remember, it isn’t an emergency
it’s just a synonym for emergency.

*

Seeking clarification
I asked my aunt, the doctor,
to explain the difference
between calling the pandemic
a global health emergency
and calling it a global threat
to which she replied
(after several moments)
that global health emergency
and global threat
are spelled differently.

*

When this is over
the historians will sift
through the records
and wonder how it was
that so many people
went about their lives
quietly and calmly
while falling into the abyss
and should you find this
my dear historian
please know
some of us wondered
about that at the time.

*

*

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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