Poems from the Yellow Notebook: Pandemic Version

Okay folks.

Brace yourselves.

I've got another poem for you from the yellow notebook. I think it's from early 2006. I would have been almost 16. And it shows.

Today I learned about
the flu
of 1918.
Between fifty and
a hundred
million
died.
Half were my age.
And now its cousin has
come back.
There are no vaccines
No antibiotics
If conditions are the same,
200 million die.
I am righteous I think.
I don't smoke
or swear
or hold hands.
I try to be nice
I think about going to Key Club.
Will I be spared?

Global warming
Loss of civil liberties
Fuel crisis
And yet,
today is the first day of spring
If things get worse,
There will always be the
Equinox.

Whew. We all survived that poem, right? I am hoping it wasn't as angsty as it felt as I was writing it down. I am assuming that I didn't think holding hands was that bad. But I was 15, so who knows. (True story: one time in seminary a teacher asked what our favorite commandment was. I said, "Don't date before you're 16 because now I'm 16 and can date." And I was serious! Oh brother.)

Anyway, I hope that even though I hold hands now and don't go to Key Club, I will be spared from coronavirus. And I hope the same for everyone I love. Stay safe!

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