Poem During the Plague: Poem 29

Marie Louise St.Onge

Marie Louise’s writing has appeared in anthologies and literary magazines across the country including Yankee Magazine, Clackamas Literary Review, Permafrost, Café Review, Balancing Act 2, and Grief Becomes You. She is the Executive Editor of Ad Hoc Monadnock – A Literary Anthology, a former editor for The Worcester Review, and a contributor to French Class: French Canadian-American Writings on Identity, Culture and Place. Marie Louise has read her poetry at universities, art and community centers, and bookstores throughout New England. Massachusetts born, she makes her home on the coast of southern Maine.

On the Thirtieth Day of Isolation (Covid-19) 

Marie Louise St.Onge 

Just over four weeks now, no store 

no pharmacy no haircut no meetings 

no movies no museum no protests 

no handshakes no hugs no gym simply  

solo walks along the shore. Respite indeed  

when I pull in more than my share of salted air  

and negative ions, listen carefully  

for the dogs’ barks and the surf’s voice  

rising and falling, speaking and pretty  

much always uttering something  

said before.  

When she said she was making a trip 

to the grocery and asked if I needed anything 

I found my way to yes…I found my way to yes. 

Make a list she said. Memory. Over four decades ago 

my aunt, wrapped inside a world she could not 

see, made lists: ½ lb. hamburger, one chicken breast, 

two white potatoes, ¾ lb. green beans, one quart  

orange juice, a single loaf of Wonder, 

half dozen eggs, a shaker of Ajax, two rolls  

of toilet paper, one Whitman’s pecan roll  

and a package of English muffins. My aunt said yes.  

There is a long list of things we don’t know today  

and will not tonight or tomorrow or even next week.  

We’re living blind. So much we’ve not learned 

but now in this time of much time  

may we practice…...patience compassion stamina. 

In these lean days while we touch nothing  

except our worries, may we be moved toward grace.  

Trees persist with their bold budding, frogs are readying  

their pulse, crows build nests and mares enter estrus.  

Today I made a grocery list, such a plain way of baring need,  

leaning in and accepting a blown kiss.