A Lesson From Quarantine
What was that
animosity
I felt for my things?
No time for scrubbing the sink,
so I hated the sink.
No time to sweep the cat hair from the couch,
so I hated the couch,
and sometimes the cat.
I couldn’t unstop that drain;
I had to work.
All that endless laundry,
washing unsatisfactory clothes.
Then, the sickness came,
wiped me from work and world,
and set me down amidst all my burdensome things.
And the couch and the cat
wrapped their arms around me;
the sink held so many onion skins and cabbage cores
from meals prepared quietly
after days of solitude;
the drain opened with only
the time it took to boil water;
and the unworn dresses
needed no washing –
they hung, ready and waiting,
for the cured world.
This is how I learned to love my things.
They’ve been here all along,
shabby and unfailing,
keeping me safe, fed, and dressed,
rooting me in the upheaval.
The world will find a remedy
and resume its reeling;
as for me,
this was the first shot
of the vaccine.
8.4.2020
cls
wrapped their arms around me;
the sink held so many onion skins and cabbage cores
from meals prepared quietly
after days of solitude;
the drain opened with only
the time it took to boil water;
and the unworn dresses
needed no washing –
they hung, ready and waiting,
for the cured world.
This is how I learned to love my things.
They’ve been here all along,
shabby and unfailing,
keeping me safe, fed, and dressed,
rooting me in the upheaval.
The world will find a remedy
and resume its reeling;
as for me,
this was the first shot
of the vaccine.
8.4.2020
cls
