Poem During the Plague: Poem 24

Linda Conte

TODAY

The news is snapping up our attention

but the details are noise.

The speakers and tweeters grab our cheeks

and turn our faces to their most

blatant lies and horrific facts so hard

we fail to notice the grays on the edges.

We see only sharp edges

of discord and blog-soldiers at attention

ready to come down hard

numbing us with more noise.

What we fear most

is a mere slap on the cheek

or even a kiss on the cheek

because we are the ones gone soft at the edges.

We put on our most

determined look and feign attention

and add our clicks to the noise

because our lives are hard.

We pound our keyboards hard

but from real action we turn our cheeks.

On the streets we block the noise,

don headphones and skulk on the edges

trying not to draw attention.

We ignore those we should hold most.

What we hope for most

the thing that is really hard,

is that our children need attention.

The tears run down their cheeks

and wet the soft edges

of their mouths which make no noise.

We must make some noise.

There are so many of us almost

forced to the edges.

The fears will push back hard

but we won’t turn our cheeks.

We control our attentions!

We’ll make some noise about what’s hard.

The most meek among us will show their cheek.

Those on the edges will have our attention.

***Linda Haviland Conte serves on the board of the New England Poetry Club as treasurer, and recently retired from working in the Somerville Public Schools. She received a Somerville Arts Council Grant to lead a local poetry-writing workshop. A graduate of Connecticut College, Linda was a founding member and occasional editor of Ibbetson Street magazine. She has participated as a panelist on the topic of Poetry and Community at the Massachusetts and New Hampshire Poetry Festivals (2017). Linda lives with her husband in Somerville, MA.
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