My Secret Lover the Oximeter

Just knowing she’s there makes everything alright

Photo by Kristina Flour on Unsplash

For the first six months of the pandemic, I couldn’t breathe. It started out episodically. When the numbers would surge or President Trump would do something extra stupid I would go into lung atrophy and struggle to breathe. I’d take long walks along the lake trying to get a breath. Even in the days before mask-wearing outside, I…