Heaps of masks in stages of production; pleats, pins, patterns
Teachers’ voices in my home, made small by laptop speakers, children fidgeting in chairs they sit in to eat and play board games
Context all askew and no one can find the good pencils with intact erasers.
The heroes brave the front and we rally around them by being not around
Dodge an enemy we can’t see
Stare down graphs and projections and curves
And count the rolls of toilet paper and wonder.
Placed in the center of my heart are those dear ones who cannot weather such a viral blow. I keep looking in on them, in my heart; are you yet well?
I am not afraid, I lift my head to you to say; I am not afraid to die
I look back into my heart, I would not have them die, not because of idiocy and obstinacy; not so very unnecessarily.
My heart bearing them, I go to cook; everyone seems doubly hungry and Lenten fare does not settle heavy in restless and unsorted bellies.
Prayer as I breathe.
