Nightmares 3 nights in a row
Nowhere I can go
Will temptation overcome
Self-isolation
God is with me
But is it God’s timing
A personal 9/11
Has become public
Blog
From One to Many
Since February 2019, when I was diagnosed with a strange cancer, visible on CT, PET, and all the other alphabetized scans—but not making me outwardly ill—I have become used to staying at home, more and more. I go out for treatments at the hospital, which leave me fatigued and with a suppressed immune system, so I spend time at home, napping and having hot baths. When I have enough energy, I go out to meet friends, see a show at a museum, attend a play, read a few poems at a reading, have dinner at a restaurant with my partner. Even routine things like shopping, going to the bank, the library, the hardware store are restorative—for a while, I can feel normal in a normal, functioning world. Then fatigue, or fear, overtakes me. Sometimes, I wonder how the world can continue normally while I am ill, straying closer to the brink of death.
Things I Never Thought I’d Say (Except in a Pandemic)
1. “Don’t touch my face, don’t touch my face.” Repeating the mantra when the wind blows my hair in my eyes.
2. When I hear the front door open, “Strip, take off your clothes. Wash your hands.”
3. “OMG, I’d hate to be on that cruise!” On hearing about the Grand Princess passengers.
4. “Ah, this is so sweet of you. You brought me a gift that’s better than flowers,” I say, handling the 60-roll toilet paper package.
Continue Reading Things I Never Thought I’d Say (Except in a Pandemic)
Three Haiku
Today’s sum twenty
Eight thousand and two hundred
Forty-four ascents.
Sun sears fishbone sky
Cloudbursts pierce quicksilver hems
Earth inhales exhales.
White noise lie in state
Silent sky and interstate
Doves know no borders.
Diago’s Dark Waters
On our tour of the Rio Negro, while the boat
putters across its strong-tea waters
local guide, Diago adds colour commentary
in addition to the construction genius of a bridge
over 2 miles long with 246 supporting columns, he adds
that each month 24 people plummet to death from it
he describes first contact with Europeans,
how villagers leaped into currents to drown
terrified by the strange fevers of smallpox
