POETRY PLAYGROUND WRITING PROMPT #32
Unmasked In A Mask
We learned so much yet so little masked up these past four years
We all had to wear them,
Cloth, surgical, or N95 ones,
A necessary accessory,
PPE all shipped by the tons.
Wearing a mask to mask us,
While dressed in our own style,
Or uniformed in conformity,
clothes of the rank and file.
The policeman, the preacher,
The housewife, the reacher-
Of our souls, to find who we are,
The maid, the stock boy or the teacher.
The rules still unwritten,
We were here yet so far,
Like stars in the universe,
Looking up at who we are.
You stood six feet away,
Now you’re breathing down my neck again,
I thought you wanted to stand away from me,
I didn’t think you were ever my friend.
We are people you want to meet,
underneath the mask,
The understandable, the unfortunately underpaid,
But all up to the task.
The waitress, the grocery worker, and the civil servant,
Treated bad for masking,
I say, “How are you today?”
“Not good, but thanks for asking.”
Did anyone ever say thank you,
For the services you have done,
essential workers still in the struggle,
Good blessings for all you have done.
Everything is so political,
Even our reason for living,
A mask is what saved many,
With much taking and much giving.
Nurses stood together in hefty garage bags,
Living their lives to save others,
A global pandemic of epic extremes,
Reaching out as helpers one to another.
Covid is still with us,
It’s still here today,
We all know someone with Covid,
And RIP to all those gone away.
I pray for healing-
To a world chilling
To those unwilling
To those still feeling
Covid now, it’s after effects
Still linger in the air,
Like water vapors unaware.
Masked up or not.
Get well.
Live to tell.
Covid hit the world hard in March 2020. There were so many emotions for all of us during that time. The world stopped, but life didn’t. And life was taken away. The sad part is that statistics show everyone on planet Earth knew someone affected by COVID. Covid is now a part of our lives, like the flu or the common cold. We now have to live with it. It’s our new normal. I wrote a lot about it at the time. I wrote poems, devotionals, and love stories. Pen and paper was my way out. It helped me cope. It gave me the chance to remember that there’s always hope. In the words of the eternal optimist Scarlet O’Hara from the movie Gone With The Wind, “Tomorrow is another day.” Indeed it is.
Here is a link to a poem by Poetry Playground writer Jackie Olsen published in Rainbow Salad. It brings the effects of COVID home.
Thank you, Jonny Masters, for this writing prompt. I enjoyed your poem, Hidden One. Be well.
Thank you for reading.
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