Dear diary;
this world is
falling to pieces-
I can see it on my screen
and I can hear it outside
my window.

Crazy COVID-19 has us all in a tizzy
Too much information making all of us dizzy
Most who’ve been exposed self-quarantine
Running out of toilet paper making us mean
“Social distancing” is the phrase du jour
Scientists now scrambling to find the cure
Hurry!

(Chorus)
COVID-19 apolitical
Proper testing so critical
Slow response hypocritical
Naysayers hypercritical
Division and strife
Don’t take my life
Give it back!

What started out in China as an epidemic
No respecter of nations totally pandemic
All around the world countries shutting down
Even New York City looks like a ghost town
Is there no end to this viral mess
As our way of life’s forced to evanesce?
Scary!

(Chorus)
COVID-19 apolitical
Proper testing so critical
Slow response hypocritical
Naysayers hypercritical
Division and strife
Don’t take my life
Give it back!


© 2020 by Mark Toney. All rights reserved.

i can't meet my own family
have to stay inside among a
room of blinds and strangers
isolated from my close ones

it is the worst day of my life
no other chance no other light
ridiculously lonely fights
gimme some space and a new face

painful memories in the making
there's no time for aching
no catchy phrases no money
i'll be dead soon right before noon

covid-19 is a strong breed
and it needs me as his feed
got no time left for crying
my dears i will be dying

Just dying
An epidemic is needed
That humanity
Stop each other
Destruction
And
Learn to love.

I love you so much
that I would share my toilet
paper with you, babe

10:50 PM
12/3/20

We live in
troubled times,
where leaders fail
and pandemics prevail.
Mass hysteria is
the only game in town-
society's going down
because we cannot hear,
and we cannot think
over the turmoil
spreading across
our soil.

I am the poet
I have been whispering obscurities in dark corners for many years now
And I like it that way

I am dark and brooding
Obscure and abstract
And I like it that way

I am the craftsman
Allowing language to consume me
And I like it that way

I am impervious to permanence
And tire of fence sitting
And I like it that way

I am living the rhythm of symbolism so as to
Pawn it as wisdom
And I like it that way

I am the tactician step, step, stepping through
Through the abstract and on to you
And I like it that way

Having found that symbolism rhythm
I am weaning my way off words

Having found my addiction
And now feeling the friction

My addiction isn’t to words though
It’s to whispers

Through the journey from abstraction
And into the rhythm of this reality is
Where I consumed all of it
I even drank down the first person
With a perspective shift and a lime twist for garnish

Now it’s time to inspire
Let's put on our costumes because
Reconciling truths
Aggravates liars

And I like it that way