How To Make Good Use Of a Long Siege

What We Learned From This Moment of Covid

Photo by Aidan Smith on Unsplash

That’s all we were to them—not humans— not even workers — pawns
Pawns captured early in this politician’s war—not exactly jailed but not exactly free — and the Game — went on despite us
“Well Eff You Then”
We were So Over the stupidity of it all—we took our toys and went home
Home — right where we have always wanted to be — And Here We Are
We have everything we need — going to wait it out
From our window we’d taunt, “You’ve got nothing we want”
And it was true.

“What will we do though, about, you know, time? So — much — time”
Well — we will
plant a Garden— watch Netflix — bake some Sourdough — start a Side Hustle
think about God — walk in the Forest — find our Selves — pay Attention
Stand too close — like two trees —who allowed the wind to rub them both
into open wounds — then move apart
get Bored— learn Guitar — read Bad Poetry— peek into Mystical Rabbit Holes
dig up Medium Gurus — YouTube Prophets — Facebook Tarot Readers
Learn some—Laugh some — Learn some more
learn to Navigate By the Stars — Orion— Andromeda — Ursa major
are we headed the right way?
hibernate — rest — recover — sleep — sleep some more
Sleep, perchance to dream?

What did you dream about last night?
“Me? I dreamt that I Poked a Bear awake”
Now why would you want to wake a sleeping bear?
“Weird — it seems I wanted to tell the bear how interconnected we were”
Bold Move — Brave — Audacious even — maybe a little Stupid?
“Ha ha you’re funny — It was just a dream”
A bear dream — a message from your ancestors?
“Oh please — I don’t even know who my ancestors are”
What do you think it meant?
“I don’t know but that bear was Really Mad that I woke him.”

Remember when the kids were small — how you’d softly sing them awake?
“Yes, I always did believe that sleeping isn’t a crime — you take what you need”
Whenever I wanted to sleep late — my mother practically held a grudge
“That’s too bad — I found instead —that a gentle nudge
made each new day more bearable — maybe even desirable”
I found — a yell through the door calling you lazy and worthless — did not.

Thanks to J.D. Harms for this prompt:

Derailed by Stars: Prose Poem

January 2022