For When No One Does Social Distancing Anymore

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…