Plague Poems – The Hundred-and-Eighty-Fourth Week

Z.M.L

Sep 29

When seeing headlines
about an outbreak
of another virus
a deadlier virus
it is easy to be frightened
frightened by the virus
yes, certainly,
but more frightened
by knowing
that you were wrong
back when you believed
your society could manage
a calamitous outbreak.

On Saturday,
I sat and listened
as the rabbi recited
the Unetanah Tokef
evoking those
"Who shall live and
Who shall die"
whether from
water or fire
sword or beast
and when the rabbi said
"and who by plague"
I realized that mine
was the only masked face
in the synagogue.

Based on wastewater data
it appears current levels
are approaching
the pandemic's first peak
from 2020
and the Delta peak
from 2021
but this does not mean
that we are back where we were
in 2020 or 2021
for back then
most of us were still tring
not to spread the virus.

Even when I was young
I knew that my belief
that we should take care
of one another
was and would likely remain
a radical one
though when I was young
I did not realize that my belief
that we should try not
to spread viruses
would one day become
a radical one.

Editorial Note: This is a collection of Plague Poems written between September 16, 2023 and September 22, 2023.

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.

When you hear them say
(and you will hear them say)
that after this wave
that after this variant
we will finally achieve
herd immunity
you may find yourself
unmoved by these claims
for by now
you may have develoepd
heard immunity
from hearing them say this
over and over.

After boarding the bus
and touching several poles
the old man sat
took out a little bottle
and thoroughly sanitized
both of his hands
after which he put the bottle away
and proceeded to have
a lengthy coughing fit
without bothering
to do anything
to cover his mouth.

The WHO's message
is quite clear:
"if you're due
for an additional dose
of COVID-19 vaccine,
don't wait,
get it now,
especially if you're in
an at risk group"
which is the type of message
you emphatically send
when you know
the emergency isn't really over.

They say
we have the tools
they insist
we have the tools
but they fail to mention
that we
do not all have the insurance
and that we
do not all have the money
which are necessary
to obtain the tools
they keep telling us
that we have.

They said not to worry
they said it was over
they said go back
to living your life
just as you did before
they said the at risk
would fall by the wayside
they said they said they said
and now they wonder why
so few people
are getting the booster.

A study
by Northwestern Medicine
found that COVID patients
(during the first 8 days
after the start of symptoms)
exhale as many
as 1,000 copies of the virus
per minute
so the next time you are bored
in a meeting
try to calculate how much plague
your unwell coworkers are exhaling.

There is conern
that the current counts
are inaccurate
and that cases
are being missed
after all, it's very easy
to miss cases
when you aren't really looking.

I confess:
I have given up
no longer do I believe
that by wearing a mask
that by taking precautions
I will convince anyone
to change their ways
yes, I have given up,
and yet I continue on
not because I hope
to change others
but because I will not
let their indifference
change me.

A routine
for a comedian:

The pandemic
is getting pretty bad.

(How bad is it?)

It's getting so bad
that the federal government
is sending out
free tests again!

[laughter]

You can get four tests
but they have to last
for three months
so try not to use them all
on one infection.

My colleague is coughing
he keeps coughing
he has been coughing
for as long as I can remember
and so without getting close
I ask if he is alright
and he says he's fine
through coughs, he insists, he's fine
he's had this cough
for months, he can't shake it
but he's fine, he's fine.

It is not that I
am wholly ungrateful
something
(even something small)
is certainly better
that nothing
but even though I
have become accustomed
to nothing
I still know better
than to mistake
the small something
(grateful for it though I am)
for the sufficient.

After everyone else
stops monitoring
after the COVID-19 tracking project
and after Johns Hopkins
after the newspapers
and after the states
at least, we know
that for current information
we can always look for a surge
of angry reviewers saying
their Yankee Candles
have no scent.

I sit in my office
my windowless office
with the door closed
and outside my door
from the hallways I can hear
coughs and hoarse voices
coughs and health complaints
and so I sit in my office
my windowless office
with the door closed
wishing my air purifier
had a higher setting.

According to a study
the experience of the pandemic
may have changed
people's personalities
making some more at risk
of stress
making some more mistrustful
and while there is no doubt
that the pandemic has changed us
it still seems
as though it mainly
revealed who we truly are.

When facing an airborne virus
we all know it is insufficient
we all know it is ridiculous
that all they will tell us
is to wash our hands
but if you have ever
used a public bathroom
you are unfortunately aware
that many people
truly do need to be told
to wash their hands.

Should the plague take me
please do not bother
sending flowers
or making charitable donations
no, in lieu of such things
please
just wear a fucking mask.