Pandemic Poem Pt. II

March 16, 2020 Kate Belew, Alone

I know it is strange to have fear over something unseen.

I feel the same way about taxes and death,

this virus mandated that we create space for it,

this multiplication. And I was never very good at math.

I spend too long of days in the internet anyhow

and this doesn’t help anything. I read headlines

and skip articles because they all say the same thing

but I have many questions about perspective.

I try to explain pandemic to my dog as Cody drives

an empty bridge to Jersey and tells me he’s driving

through the Sopranos theme song. I light candles

and put flowers in the window. I put my hand against glass.

And it’s cool and let’s us see both ways

a little porthole into what I’ll call a quarantined home.

I am lucky and not everyone is, it is deeply unfair

and there are no words that I can say that I won’t choke on.

I try to raise my voice loudly so you can hear it, yes you,

through this wall between us.