Please mute yourself and listen
Please unmute yourself and speak
Let’s take a moment to breathe
Let’s take turns saying our names
Would you like to hold up your volcano?
Would you like to draw an elephant?
I’m so sorry I thought it was yesterday
I’m so sorry I thought it was tomorrow
How are we doing? Are we OK?
Everybody doing OK?
Here is an amulet to print
And hang above your door
Here an old story about a young woman
Who saved her grandfather by singing
Here is my living room my bedroom
My porch my basement my kitchen
Here are the windows across the street
And the faces behind those windows
When we venture out
We give each other
A wide berth
Like ships in rocky waters
Humbled by the sea
We wave to each other
Through windows and screens
We sing and raise a glass
Simultaneous but not together
Oh my friends my beloved strangers
I never knew our closeness
Until it it was gone
From the series, “Bathtub Pandemic Poems“
