We Made It Through The Pandemic
Two poems recall our fears, but also how we prevailed. Humans seem more than able to do that. Let's keep that in mind during today's troubling events.
A Nevada Town
I drive through a Nevada town And wonder what keeps people living here Half the shops on the main street Are boarded up or look like they should be The ancient hotel has been redeemed By the haunts of ghosts and history While behind its hulking tower stand The old miners shacks so weathered By wind and snow and the thunder of children They moulder at their roots into the ground. Then I peek into shop windows Dusty and drawn and old Or recently stocked with fresh goods It's a disorienting aspect. Do these people really want to do business? A few blocks further I come upon A neighborhood park and playground Newly mowed lawn wafts a scent so pure And mingles with pine boughs' mint, Memories of butterfly summers unfold. A thunder of children pour from a school Released to the breeze, they rip off masks And cast them to the grass in relief. A teacher wanders to where I sit And joins me there to rest. She looks Very much like a long, hard day. After a few pleasant identifications She watches the children kicking a ball While a stray dog chases it across the field Their uncovered faces gleam in the sun As if lifted from a long, arduous slog. I refuse to accept this 'new normal' she sighs We will return to the way it was some day. Her rebellion surprises me I realize this haggard town With its ruins and rundown façade Has bucked many challenges before. I decide not to check out the cemetery For the visible record of those past horrors. I wonder as I drive out to the highway What other spirits dwell behind Those boarded up windows.
2020: A Very Good Year
A wedding in the sunlight Barbeque in the yard Friends and family celebrate Joy to come. Knitters in the park Laughing in the breeze That clears the air Our sick ones recover quickly. Though all events are cancelled Radio operators rag chew across Rasping air waves with those Nearby and in distant lands. Husband works from home We laugh that the irony of this Is what he's wanted for years. Managers finally got the memo. July malaise finds a name COVID hides actual causes: Appendisitis, allergies, Summer's heat and ennui. Chickens and gardens swell With bounty beyond need. Major problem: how to use It all or find someone to share. Despite a new mother's nausea The life she carries is healthy Her fear of a barren marriage Dispelled by a grainy image. The Internet keeps us posted News shatters unity, spreads doom Yet ZOOM links us live We can see people we miss. While the world heaves Under death, fear, and rumor We live in our bubble, safe Content in our isolation. A meteor streaks across the sky Most of us dodged the bullet Gaining strength in renewal We will endure whatever comes.
Here are two poems posted in previous years on Ring Around the Basin.
Hugs
Posted April 30, 2023
Did the Owl Called My Name
Posted March 17, 2024
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Those are lovely poems, and new to me. As Sharron notes, “a thunder of children.” Thank you!
Such lovely images here of the Nevada town, Sue.
"...the thunder of children..."
"Newly mowed lawn wafts a scent so pure/ And mingles with pine boughs' mint..."
"Memories of butterfly summers unfold...."
"She looks very much like a long, hard day."