Poem During the Plague: Poem 16

Richard E. Brenneman has returned to writing poetry and breaking bread with the Bagel Bards. This of course is now virtual on Zoom and commiserating with new friends on Facebook. He has recently been published in Muddy River Poetry Review, Ibbetson Street and Nixes Mate Review.

LAZARETTO

Separated in place, homebound

as in lazarettos in ports of call

where infected sailors were kept

in quarantine

so their ills did not infect

the market places beyond the walls.

Only silk, lapis, rubies, or

foodstuffs passed those portals.

We rage against the lack

of human voice or sight,

seized and held

by this painful despot of our isolation,

vulnerable as  tossed to and fro

on a raft in boundless ocean.

Daily we walk and can avoid

others with their dogs.

We can look at budding leaf

and flower,

but still are  isolated,

quarantined

against this pestilence,

this grief,

this fear that would rob us

of health, of life,

of voice.

We answer back with poetry

distilled from verbiage,

motley cant,

random vocabulary,

digestion of dictionaries,

sharp words, staccato sounds

beat in restless fury

from our redoubt.

Still we abide.