Considerations of the Virus
I tried to marry
the silence, take it
inside like a package
of seeds, wait
for signs of fresh
buds & lustrous
blooms. I called it
opportunity. In long
wedges of time
I meditated, I imagined
neighbors reconciling.
It wasn’t until the eighth
month I realized the opportunity
was elsewhere. Of what
use are quiet epiphanies when death
is growing confidently like a Category 5
headed for the coast? Deeper
in the time of covid I plead
to the tangerine
sunrise. I try to take
faith in new life — early
blooming iris, billowing
like fresh spun silk, the forsythia
exploding in a golden
arrival. But some days
I am helpless as a vagabond
sheltered by rain-soaked
cardboard. Is it enough to remove
myself from the human
chain of infectors? Has someone
lived because I sealed myself off
from the sprinkled beads
of our breath?
12 thoughts on "Considerations of the Virus"
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So many wonderful images. My favorite lines are: “Deeper/in the time of covid I plead//to the tangerine/sunrise.”
wonderful! esp a ‘wedge of time.’
like cheese or pie.
Speaks for a lot of us, this poem. There were a lot of “we’re all in this together” platitudes early in the pandemic, followed by a realization that no, we weren’t in this together, not the same way. I like that you end with those two questions, and that they’re left unanswered. Haunting & poignant.
Beautiful images and insight into a dark time for us all.
That contemplation at the end bounces between vagabonds and beads. Fear is powerful as it overtakes hope.
Very well done. I especially like the questions at the end. There are so many unanswered ones, but these are really worth asking.
love “helpless as a vagabond/ sheltered by rain-soaked// cardboard.”
my favorite lines: (I loved every inch of this)
I plead
to the tangerine
sunrise. I try to take
faith in new life — early
blooming iris, billowing
like fresh spun silk, the forsythia
exploding in a golden
arrival. But some days
I am helpless as a vagabond
sheltered by rain-soaked
cardboard.
For a human “tribe” as they call us now, we said we were Quaranteam, whatever that meant, BUT we did this largely ALONE. Ask my kids. The effects of the isolation was felt between people. As someone who has used ZOOM incessantly, I’ve always noticed how my social anxiety has been on hold at those moments of mingling with “others”. You give a window to the true self, the inner image, dealing with surroundings, with feelings. I babble and rant. This was exquisite, these are simply things that came to mind.
sorry for that rant. I don’t know how to explain how that connected in my noodle for brains. won’t happen again. I adored the poem.
I wouldn’t call it a rant Manny. It’s nice to hear more than “great job” in a comment. (Not that I don’t do this all the time.) You’re fine and thanks for trusting me with your comments.
❤️❤️🖤❤️❤️
Has it been a kalpa since June? Here I’m in Great Falls in August. Although Montana has one of the lowest vaccine rates in the US, death’s confident new delta boast advances, relentless as a glacier.
The Blackfeet Tribal Council, however, sure doesn’t want to lose any more elders and youngers. Every shop, store and restaurant in West Glacier posts its mask mandate at the front door.