One so timeless so common
deep-rooted mortal so cradled
in public rituals and offerings
grasped hands shared tales and casseroles
then kept silent and sharp
in each sole startled heart
One all insistent present
alerts updates notifications news
webbed networks insights opinions
cool screens illuminating our bowed faces
scanning now now now
Now in this strange time
this here abruptly ours we veer
hourly from timeless to present
each shared and split with rising
numbers algorithms infodemics
surveillance and safety and still
the weight of not knowing the wait
for what may come has come will come
As if grief made manifest
fills empty skies shops streets
concrete seas of nothing
doors shut shuttered desolate
Now vacant space divides the swift end
of before from the unimaginable next
held in horizons of all we see
read feel hear text on busy screens
clutched in our palmed hands
Uncertainty coded in numbers
each rising graph a talisman
reshaping our daily gestures crossing
streets sewing masks hands washed
raw – our garlic our amulets
blessed by science and hope
all we can do to hold at bay
the awfulness of unknowing
Each death distinct and whole
each number tallying the chasm between here
and gone as we sit isolated and stunned
between grief and technology.
Susan Jaret McKinstry – 4/20
Used by permission.