Poem During the Plague: Poem 18

BERT STERN

Born in Buffalo in 1930, Bert Stern is Milligan Professor of English Emeritus at Wabash College  He taught at the University of Thessaloniki from 1965-67 as Fulbright Professor of English and at Peking University as an exchange professor in 1984-5.  Stern published a pioneer study of Wallace Stevens in 1965 (Wallace Stevens, Art of Uncertainty, University of Michigan).

It’s clear now:  we need each other

and are alone.  Facetime helps, 

but poignantly:  pixels can’t sub

for flesh.  Still, heart reaches out

toward heart.  It’s finally clear:

we need each other but are alone.