[Jim Moonan]

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You never know, in times like this, when you’ve crossed a line… But I thought we could have some fun (that might be the line) with streaming a thread of virus-themed verse or otherwise wordy wit to soothe and salve the mad world we have all retreated from and into in these United States. (And Elsewhere?) The drain has been swamped.

I’ve seen a virus-themed verse or two (Susan’s Sequestration on metrical for one) but would like to read more pandemic poetry and what kinds of thoughts, emotions, behaviors, inspiration it has spawned. Has the same panic griped the UK and elsewhere? I could google… But that’s so isolating and disorienting. Online searches give me vertigo lately. Has the term, “social distancing” crept into the dictionary elsewhere? Social distancing — now there’s an oxi-irony not lost on me.

Does anyone have some poetic pandemic-related doodling they’ve been doing? I've done some.

Here's one:

Fear; noun, verb
An alternate definition:
When all of life becomes a slurry of metaphors spiced with puns and double entendres topped with a dollop of irony.
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[Ann Drysdale]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ia0bfWbOLjY

[Ann Drysdale]

But if we're going to post our own stuff, best start a thread on D&A.

[Jim Moonan]

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That is exactly the salve I had hoped for Annie. Thank you. Now pass the tissue.

Here is a live link of how capitalism has made the adjustment to a cleaner, less germ-ridden shopping experience. We are doomed (for the time being).

(We crossposted.) You're right. Maybe I can request it be moved.
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[Jayne Osborn]

I'll move the thread to D & A, Jim, but I'm in the middle of helping friends move house right now, and writing this quickly on my phone. Can everyone hold their horses just for a few hours? I'll be back...

Jayne

[Jerome Betts]

https://snakeskinpoetry.wordpress.com

[Shaun J. Russell]

...Game on!

[Julie Steiner]

"They're hoarding toilet paper! Why?"
I hear my husband scoff.
His own hoard towers eight feet high,
but it was marked half off.

He buys in bulk when it's on sale.
He loses all control.
I've pleaded "Stop!" to no avail.
He can't. He's on a roll.

But when the stuff's in short supply,
its price reflects demand.
I think without a bargain buy
he'd rather use his hand.

And so I'm worried anyhow,
despite my husband's stash.
I fear he'll trade his stockpile now
for less-absorbent cash.

[Jim Moonan]

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Wild stabs at fleeting thoughts conflating even as the world deflates.


Out of Touch

“Ouch! You’re squeezing. That hurts, Sir.”

Look. At the eclipsed sun.
Touch. Your orange face.
Shake. The carrier hand.
Comb. Your hair into its strategic place.
Face. The nation from a safe space.

I breathe in and out the sequestered air.
My elbow has become the safest space.
Never mind him now. My attention still
suffers from all its usual disorders.
There ain’t no cure for crossing borders.
(I have all day to make sense of this and smooth the rhyme and meter and perhaps make it shorter)

..........

Alignment Blues

“Forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

Give me that old time ruthless droll
The kind of ruler who numbs the soul
All this freedom has taken a toll
Give me a tyrant who can take control
Someone to hide behind and viral troll.

..........

Bide

“Very well. I'll bide my time. But I’ll get you my little pretty — and your little dog too!”

There's no place like home.
The Time of Panic has come and will go
and in its wake someone (not me) will know
how (and why) we did what we did to get by it.

Who is it that bought the tainted fish in China
just because someone said “Try it you’ll like it.”?

..........

I Let Her Do It

She is quite particular about the brand to buy
Me, I like to squeeze the Charmin’.
(I always do, I don’t know why)
But there's another kind she likes better.
On certain things she's the best judge, so I let her
buy the kind that her behind prefers; on that score
I wouldn’t dare upset her.


..........

Whosoever it is that melts the tips of their fingers in protest will be the last one to get into heaven.

..........

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[A. Sterling]

As the virus arrives, and it schemes
To outwit our containment extremes,
We shall soon see the proof
Of the troubling truth
That nothing spreads faster than memes.