Serving

Oh to be able to taste again

sweet tapas of Malaga

restaurants flung wide open

olives served which we never ordered

but still had to pay for

_____________

dVerse prompt on food. One too many servings of covid right now.

Advertisement

News Flash

WHO announces the end of pandemic

You do not have to wash your hands

or stay away from your friends

free to move throughout the country

and the world (with your vaccine card)

still be courteous and do not cough

or sneeze

______________

NaPoWriMo prompt on news I would like to see. Can’t think of anything more desirable than this.

Your Eyes

Voice was muffled 

nose covered

only your eyes

perched on the edge 

of a mask

_______________

dVerse prompt on eyes

What Season is This?

What season is this

wear a mask for groceries

or you will get sick

What season is this

watch lawlessness on tv

in the name of change

What season is this

where travel is restricted

all over the world

What season is this

when people defy rule

to loot for big screen

What season is this

who saw Jesus statue fall

in mobocracy

What season is this

without fear of authority

that a way be made

What season is this

we stay away from people

end humanity

What season is this

worried for our liberties

while some hold rifle

What season is this

wayward disobedience

taunting the police

What season is this

welcome truthful dialogue

no taking of sides

____________________

dVerse prompt to write a series of haiku — I am baffled by what is going on in the USA

Outbreak

His shadow shouts—

don’t betray yourself

stay inside

it is your alibi

months later

on a nightmare scream

he went outside

when his shadow

could not be seen

______________

dVerse prompt to use Maya Angelou’s line his shadow shouts on a nightmare scream

Hope to Return

Maybe at Christmas

or next year

to return to Portugal

learn the language

hike on a rugged

coastline

to the surf

of Mediterranean

or Atlantic

hope to return

_____________

NaPoWriMo prompt to the concept of return. Last day for thirty days of writing poetry. So hoping there will be a return to traveling.

Dystopic Thinking

Dystopic thinking today

as I work in the garden, contemplating Voltaire.

How has education

brought me to this point

of doubting all that I know?

History is not repeating itself.

How can this pandemic

be compared to the Spanish Flu of 1918?

We know so much more but do little.

Communication is faster

so what is going on in Italy

I can know right now.

In Spain the same. Now the US.

But look at the geography.

Look at the size of countries

and compare it to US.

Italy is smaller than Washington State.

How can there be comparisons?

The one common factor is

that the disease spreads quickly.

Test- track-and isolate. Too late.

The microbe is loose.

By accident or design?

Nobody knows or somebody knows.

Maybe we will never know.

What we do know is

that staying home keeps us safe.

Not everyone can stay home

so in Italy

there are still new cases regardless of a lockdown.

People have to go out to get food.

Whole families die at home.

After a month of staying at home,

groceries delivered and sterilized,

no outside visits,

I can’t say that I am lonely or stir crazy.

I like to stay home.

But what would it be like without internet,

without the food supply,

without air conditioning and lights?

In the winter, what if there was no heat?

What if there was no gas

to keep the car going if I wanted to relocate,

live in the mountains, hunt for food?

Are we being tossed back

into the Neanderthal of life

or just a temporary bleep in the radar

of what we always thought was progress?

Too many questions and who cares

what the answer is.

I find answers to be too dystopic.

_______________

NaPoWriMo prompt to write 20 minutes spontaneous writing and make it a poem.

Ode to Staying Home

What a great place to be

being with family

no place to go

watch rain

wind or sunshine

pass outside

window panes

listening to songs of hope

trying to let go

of privilege &

wondering

how will we return

into this world?

_______________

NaPoWriMo prompt on ode to a simple thing— a simple act of staying home contrasted with how to enter back into the world.

Covid Guideline

Feeling so very squeaky clean

disinfecting myself from myself

avoidance of that which is unseen

feeling so very squeaky clean

take some hydroxychloroquine?

best to take good care of oneself

feeling so very squeaky clean

disinfecting myself from myself

___________________

NaPoWriMo prompt to write a triolet for day 12

From the Greek

pandemos

all people

you’re not alone

____________

NaPoWriMo Day 10 prompt