Patriots Day 2020
There is no heaving chest busting a ribbon
no bomb defying marathon
no heroes running
no champions today
in Boston who are not masked.
We cover to coexist-
cannot run from this
coast to coast undoing.
Our miss
standing under
Lady Liberty
foisted on a slab
as if freedom is frozen.
You flew in, sipped sweet tea with a smirk
bought tickets from a sidewalk vendor-
fellow patriot who struggled to pay rent-
thumbed your nose
said you paid too much
and you were being taken
to mount her isle
you entered beneath her robe
shimmied up, breathless
stone intimacy, poked around-
slinging your sweat 3-hundred
45 steps to the coronaless crown
because of your rights, by God,
your money, your rights-
a stubborn standoff.
She stands today with torch- Hers
we cannot climb in quarantine
a freeze-frame scorched idea
her copper shimmerless
like a dirt-caked penny fallen by a meter
and forgotten while we fished
gloveless for a quarter.
We scrounge for
dull invisible luck-
heads down, tails up
tired and spent sea to sea
no winners crowned with Covid
No mercy in this marathon ‘merica.
Liberate Virginia! Shooting Blanks in the Time of Covid
He texts,
“Let’s grab two pistols
and go on a stroll.”
I think, pistils
and answer,
“The daylilies have not yet bloomed.”
The U.S. takes the Lead in Deaths Due to Corona: The Mourning After We Were Crowned
I swallowed three birthday candles
in the frenzy to eat the cake
and briefly thought
dollar store wax might stick
to my bowel.
I see red
swirling in white
in tact
blue
on the other end.
My gut not toothed enough,
still not hot enough,
to soften
the design.
Firey wicks snubbed out by soiled breath-
saliva sprayed, I sang
while washing my hands
moments before I gulped.
My shame spit out
nubby well wishes,
wanton dreams.
—
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