For When No One Does Social Distancing Anymore

Randal Eldon Greene
The Junction
Published in
2 min readJun 25, 2021

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Source: Wikimedia Commons, the free media repository

Why in the world did I ever let another human
being within six feet of me?
Unless, of course, maybe
we were going to make
potential love. Then proximity is necessarily
permitted.

Appetizers sizzle
on a plate. The seating is fresh lemon-
scented sanitizer. A plastic partition
shields our booth: a transparent fixture
so common it is unseen.

Source: from Pixabay by jonathanvalencia5

But the air? I can’t believe
breathing another’s air without
filters of some sort was a thing.
Though to see the lower facts of her
assuredly radiant-in-real- life face,
she’d need to remove
her mask. People never look
exactly like you imagine
underneath that required cloth.

Across from her, I sit. We’re far
fewer than six feet apart.
Chardonnay sweats on our table,
and breathes in our glasses, which we tip
toward each other, clinking in a toast
to the danger of a date.

Source: Pixabay by stevepb

Writer bio: Randal Eldon Greene is the author of Descriptions of Heaven, a lyrical novel concerning a linguist, a lake monster, and the looming shadow of death. Greene interviews writers around the world for the Hello, Author newsletter and has numerous pieces of fiction and other writing published around the world. His website is AuthorGreene.com

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Randal Eldon Greene
The Junction

Fiction writer and founder of the "Hello, Author" interview newsletter.📗 AuthorGreene.com