For When No One Does Social Distancing Anymore
--
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.
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.
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
