Plague Poems – The Two-Hundred-and-First Week

Amidst
pestilence and death
and famine and war
how strangely comforting it is
to not actually believe
in the four horsemen.

*

After I told her
that I always feel anxious
before returning to the office
she sent me an article
with tips on handling
the “Sunday scaries”
alas the article had little to say
about effectively managing
workplace anxiety
brought on by being surrounded
by clearly sick coworkers.

*

The headline stated
“We’re in a major COVID-19 surge.
It’s our new normal”
and though I will admit
that there are many days
(indeed more and more days)
when I can no longer remember
what the old normal was like
still I refuse to accept
that there is anything
normal about this.

*

In these catastrophic times
people’s masks
keep slipping
and while some of these masks
are literal and others metaphorical
the difference between
these two types
is that at least with literal masks
it’s still possible
to put them back on.

*

Editorial Note: This is a collection of Plague Poems written between January 13, 2024 and January 19, 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 they ask
(and they will ask)
why you are wearing a mask
just tell them that you’re cold
so your mask is helping
to keep your nose warm
and even if this is not
the main reason
why you’re currently masked
a warm nose
is still an added benefit.

*

I know better
than to diagnose anyone
I know, I lack the qualifications
and yet when I hear
people around me
gripe about their unending cold
note they are always exhausted
lament their dulled senses
apologize for their foggy mind
I often fear
that I know what’s plaguing them.

*

My aunt, the doctor,
told me a new joke,
she asked:

How bad
is the pandemic
right now?

I said I did not know.
So she answered:

It’s so bad, that today,
the head of the CDC
said “We’re seeing
a lot of virus
circulating right now.”

And neither of us laughed.

*

By this point
in the pandemic
you should understand
that contracting the virus
is not a moral failing
but is instead evidence
of our society’s failings
though this does not free you
from the obligation
to protect yourself and others.

*

According to the data
the latest wave
has finally crested
a point which will be
of little comfort
to all of those
who shall drown
before these waters
fully recede.

*

My cousin the schoolteacher
says he isn’t surprised
that this virus
continues to outsmart us
and that this virus
has learned our weaknesses
for the virus
is a committed student
and parents have made sure
the virus has perfect attendance.

*

The Director-General
of the WHO declared:
“The time to prepare
for the next pandemic
is
now,
not when it arrives”
and he is right
(he is obviously right)
but even as we prepare
for the next pandemic
we should not forget
that we are in year five
of the current pandemic.

*

I know, my friend,
trust me, I know,
that the virus
is not going anywhere
which is why, my friend
I am begging you
to please take care
for the virus
may not be going anywhere
but the hospital
and the grave
are not anywheres
to which you want to go.

*

The crisis
and catastrophe
and pandemic
all continue to get worse
but the commentators know
that what we need
what we really need
to talk about
is polyamory.

*

I suppose
that I should be thankful
to see a hearing
devoted to the plague
and I am thankful
really, I am,
but it is difficult to believe
that these Senators truly care
when most of them
cannot be bothered
to wear masks.

*

We no longer need wait
for them
to hold a hearing
now we need to wait
for proof
that they were listening.

*

I apologize
if I seem pessimistic
please understand
that here in the fifth year
of the pandemic
it is not that I
have run out of hope
but that I
have run out of patience.

*

In his testimony
before the Senate
I heard a scientist say
“The best way
to prevent Long COVID
is to prevent COVID
in the first place”
meanwhile health officials
in the state of California
have shortened
the COVID isolation Period
to a single day.

*

When I ask
what he did for the holidays
he tells me he spent them
sick with the virus
and before I can stop myself
I ask “wasn’t that the second time
you caught it last year?
but he quickly corrects me
it wasn’t the second time
he caught it last year
it was the fourth time.

*

My friend, who is optimistic,
says we are seeing
the collapse of empire.

My friend, who is pessimistic,
says we are seeing
the collapse of everything.

And as for me, my friends
what you are seeing
is me trying not to collapse.

*

My friend the activist
says that by wearing a mask
she is engaging
in prefigurative politics:
embodying a desired future
through actions in the present.
I ask if she desires a future
where everyone is masked.
She says no,
she desires a future
in which we take care of each other.

*

*

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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