I drove a car today
for the first time
in months.
It felt strange
to go down the highway,
it could have been
any other day,
and even stranger when
I went through town
observing the large
volume of traffic and
seeing full parking lots
and people
roaming around,
walking on sidewalks,
laughing in groups
with no masks
like we aren’t
amid a pandemic;
like everything is
just as it was before.
I couldn’t look away
from reckless risks
and the disregard of
a viral threat holding
so much at stake.
People have built
their castles in the
air wishing it over.
I dropped off groceries
for my parents I had
bleached from a
pickup order
earlier in the day,
and turned around
to come home
making the stretch
through town,
noting no change,
and onto the highway
winding the hills
back to the
sanctuary
of my farm.