COVID
I had it for a week last year in bed 3 days straigh coughing, hacking, weak feeling like I was sinking into the bed never to come up for…
I had it for a week
last year
in bed
3 days straight
coughing, hacking, weak
feeling like
I was sinking into the bed
never to
come up for life again.
After
I kept to myself
just in case
I was contagious
a newer and improved
version of typhoid Mary.
Hey, you never know?
And it was easy
alone
on my mountain top
dogs, big views, little news
but the
panic of the crowds
ringing loud
through the silence of
the city below.
I saved a lot on flights,
losses at the casino,
gas for the car
as I sat around
reading Basho, Lao Tze
staring at old photographs while
putting in miles
in my own head
trying to work
the whole crazy thing out.
Now
going on two years since …
CNN, CDC et al.
still deem me as
in constituent, disobedient, incorrigible
a leper, a leftover loser worthy only
of banishment.
But you know what?
I couldn’t feel any more found.
You realize when
the mainstream throws you out
like a mother the runt from her litter,
saying it doesn’t need you
and nobody cares about you
nor will notice you are gone
from the bars, the theatres, the stadiums,
even the streets should
that be deemed necessary by
the elected ones.
You realize
as the bills still arrive
the IRS still calls
the banks still send warnings
the credit card companies
still make you aware of
your outstanding balance that
- you aren’t done yet
- they aren’t done yet
with you.
Someone still cares out there.
You realize
that for most
Covid was a kind of solution.
A loyalty test given
by a shadowy king.
And God,
what will we ever do
if Covid ever goes away
and we all have to
live together again?