[Damian Balassone]

Ha ha great fun Derek.
Ps It's good to find a another Aussie here.

[Nicholas Stone]

Deleted for other use.

[Ann Drysdale]

That is brilliant, Nico!

[Jim Moonan]

x
Nice, Nicolas, nice.
x

[Nicholas Stone]

Thanks folks!

[Julie Steiner]

Jeopardy!

Competing on the quiz show killed
my fandom, though it once had thrilled
me—back when hope had room to build.
(What happens to a dream fulfilled?)

Years later, when a mom I knew
competed—and much better, too,
than I had—I tuned in to view.
I’ve never watched the whole show through

since then. I can’t endure the game
that gave me half an hour of fame.
We’ve grown apart. Or I'm the same:
tonight, I only know the name

of one in eight celebrities.
I’d aced the former century’s,
but time has passed. (And V.I.P.s).
I’ve never heard of most of these.

I flip back to the news I’d fled
when seeking trivia instead:
Refrigerated trucks of dead.
Grim graphs depicting viral spread

as, globally, economies
are sinking to—and past—their knees.
And meanwhile, deaf to doctors’ pleas,
deniers aid this damned disease.

I’ve seen my neighbors contravene
the guidelines—clueless, close, unclean.
I see I've once more passed between
the realms divided by this screen.

[RCL]

The Three Companions

“O where are you going” said reader to rider,
“That valley is fatal when furnaces burn,
Yonder's the midden whose odours will madden,
That gap is the grave where the tall return.”

“O do you imagine,” said fearer to farer,
“That dusk will delay on your path to the pass,
Your diligent looking discover the lacking
Your footsteps feel from granite to grass?”

“O what was that bird,” said horror to hearer,
“Did you see that shape in the twisted trees?
Behind you swiftly the figure comes softly,
The spot on your skin is a shocking disease.”

“Out of this house” - said rider to reader,
“Yours never will” - said farer to fearer,
“They're looking for you” - said hearer to horror
As he left them there, as he left them there.


Also called “O Where Are You Going”

[Brian Allgar]

Deleted for submission elsewhere.

[Martin Elster]

An Upbeat Prophesy

That COVID-19 triggered fear in us
and our tears had made clear what was dear in us,
==but the world acted quick;
==now no one is sick,
and this fact has caused serious cheer in us.

[RCL]

The Cuomo Effect

By now he doesn’t need a promo:
In daily updates Andrew Cuomo
clarifies the virus for us.
Perhaps he should be our next POTUS?