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

Behind me in the checkout aisle
a man in a flag shirt kept asking
why I was wearing a mask
but I was not listening to him
not really anyways
because the pharmacy stereo
was playing Donna Summer
and so as the man ranted
I just listened to her voice
and told myself: I will survive.

There are concerns
that the FLiRT variants
will be harder to stop
indeed, serious concerns
that these new variants
will be much harder to stop,
but there is no real way
to know if this is true
for at this point
we aren’t even trying to stop them.

Yes, we all know,
that the idiom states
there’s no use crying
over spilled milk
but please understand
no one is crying
over spilled milk
rather they are crying out
over infected milk.

Occasionally I see
a couple out in public
with one masked
and the other bare faced
or a photo of a family
with only masked member
and when I see such things
I wonder
how the masked one
must be feeling
and then I look over
at my unmasked partner
and I think to myself: oh.

Editorial Note: This is a collection of Plague Poems written between May 18, 2024 and May 24, 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.

The futurists predict
that thanks to advances
in artificial intelligence
in the future
we shall become one
with our creations,
but according to a new study
microplastics have been found
in every human testicle
so I rather fear
we have already become one
with our creations.

According to the headline
“H5N1 doesn’t have to be
a repeat of COVID-19’s
‘public health versus the economy,'”
and it will not be a repeat
just look around, with H5N1
we are doing things differently,
this time we won’t let anything
stand in the way
of protecting the economy.

He’s done with alcohol
where once his drinking prowess
was the stuff of legends
now his tolerance has vanished
and though I want to tell him
about the reports
that point to alcohol intolerance
as a sign of Long Covid
instead I just tell him
that I support his decision.

My grandfather’s
favorite words of advice
were: don’t let the bastards
grind you down.
And I’ve tried to follow that
really, I have tried, but between
the crisis and the catastrophe
and the plague and the bastard
I am finding it very difficult
not to be ground into nothing.

My colleague keeps telling me
that always wearing a mask
is bad for my immune system
and though I say nothing
I am tempted to remind him
that of the two of us
I am not the one
who is always getting sick.

They already told you
the emergency is over,
so when their new campaign says:
“I still wear a mask
in crowded indoor spaces,
because it reduces my risk
of contracting COVID-19,
flu and other respiratory viruses”
it may sound like an emergency,
but the emergency is over
it’s over.

I know it seems like
our systems and institutions
have stopped working
but a new study has found
“masks are,
if correctly and consistently worn,
effective
in reducing transmission
of respiratory diseases,”
so even if
our systems and institutions
do not work
at least masks do.

By now you’ve probably heard
that another person
has contracted avian influenza,
but don’t worry
(the CDC says don’t worry)
for that person is a farm worker
and you are not a farm worker,
but please remember
farm worker is another term
for a human being
and you are one of those.

In the name
of pandemic preparedness
Health and Human Services
is preparing to produce
4.8 million doses
of the H5N1 avian flu vaccine
which is reassuring news
for everyone
yes, reassuring news
for everyone except
the other 336.8 million people
in the country’s population.

I sent my friend
the schoolteacher an article
one that noted “The number
of students and teachers
who miss
at least 18 days of the school year
has grown at an alarming rate
since the COVID-19 pandemic”
and he replied:
it’s a mystery, it’s almost like
the pandemic isn’t over.

“Hot vax summer”
was the foolish romp
from years ago
the proper term
for this summer’s dalliances
is “FLiRTing with disaster.”

In the name
of everyone’s safety
airport security told us
to take off our shoes
and dump out our liquids
but as I untied my laces
the guard leaned over and told me
“masks aren’t mandatory,”
and though I wanted to say
“what about everyone’s safety?”
I instead said nothing.

If I could explain
how to achieve immunity
from this virus
or from the next virus
trust me, I would do so,
but I doubt anyone would listen
for what interests most people
is not immunity
from this or that virus
but rather immunity
from the consequences
of their actions.

After I explained to him
the precautions I take
he rolled his eyes
and loudly declared
“fortune favors the bold”
though he seemed displeased
when I agreed with him
and pointed out
that one needs to be bold
to keep doing the right thing
when most people have given up.

At this point
I am not persevering
out of some idealistic attempt
to be the change
I wish to see in the world
no, at this point
I am not continuing
with my precautious ways
so that I might
change the world
rather, I am persevering
so that this world
will not change me.

At this point in the pandemic
we are no longer practicing
social distancing
and yet never has
the distance between us
been greater than
at this point in the pandemic.

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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