Poem During the Plague: Poem 32

Gloria Mindock

Gloria Mindock is the editor of Cervena Barva Press, the author of five books of poetry, and was the Poet Laureate of Somerville in 2017 and 2018.

Bitter

             for a protester

Is social distancing really that hard?

Everyday, you distance yourself.

From that phone call, you didn’t want to take.

From a person, you did not want to see.

From someone, who talks too much.

Some isolation is good…

emails will have to suffer.

It is over quickly. Hello, good-bye, delete.

Protect yourself.

Soon enough, that hug, you realize was phony.

You mean nothing. Sickness may come..

The heart dies a little, but you carry on.

Numb, you watch TV, which takes the place of love.

Finally, you turn it off and go for a walk.

The sun is shining and with a mask on,

underneath, you make a face no one can see of

disdain and sadness.