There were articles and news clips
But they were in the corners
We heard distant rumblings
Like Fukishima or Haiti
We saw, but not really
Maybe we talked about it at work, for a minute
And then moved on to the latest series on Netflix

Then it was here, but not for us
We saw
We used hand sanitizer
But then we moved on
We hugged and kissed and laughed
We went to restaurants and bars and festivals

Then it was here, and it was all there was
Unthinkable
Nebulous
Enormous

We lost jobs
We learned who was essential
We ate too much
We cried
We waited

People died
People tweeted
Everyone had a theory, but no one knew anything

We mourned
We were angry
We watched
We Zoomed
And we waited
For an answer that didn’t come

The dank and sticky days of summer came
The virus stayed, but we pretended it was gone
The people in charge lied
And plastered fake smiles across their maskless faces

A month felt like a year
We forgot about Carole Baskin
We forgot about the Australian wildfires
Our bread pictures were replaced by angry memes

We banged against the walls in our minds, looking for a hole, a way out
Our bloodied fingers scrabbling desperately
But the walls were black oil, smooth and slippery
We found nothing

Rancor and division dominated
Lines were drawn and everyone had to pick a side and stay on it forever
The answers were elusive
And wrong by the next day anyway

We listened to the people who made us feel better
Or just stoked our hate in the way we liked best
The residue of perceived transgressions accumulated
Like rat droppings in a C-rated restaurant

What had been camaraderie in the face of adversity
Began to taste like ash in our mouths

The masks

The air was thick with the smells of banana bread and Lysol
Our waistlines expanded as our worlds shrank
The days merged

Politicians took off their masks, but there was nothing underneath
We saw
And they knew we saw

Our pleasant shared myths dissolved
In the whimpers and gasps of a dying empire

Life went on, broken and deformed
The ugly underbelly exposed
The threads unraveled

Playgrounds teemed with malevolence
Schools and museums remained shuttered
As the red ***** of fuzzy chaos flew