Mary Moen
Corona Virus (1)
Don’t look at the dead rat
in the trap on the patio.
Wash lettuce and spin it dry.
Cook up sprouting potatoes
and put them in the refrigerator.
Divide pound and 1/2 of hamburger
into small portions for dinner patties.
Don’t look at the dead rat
in the trap on the patio.
Fold the just-laundered jeans.
Match and fold clean socks.
Go for walk through the
condo neighborhood.
Don’t look at the dead rat
in the trap on the patio.
Read kindle books.
Watch TV series and
then watch another one.
Listen to music.
Send a card to sister in
treatment for cancer.
Don’t look at the dead rat
in the trap on the patio.
Wash hands frequently,
singing Happy Birthday twice.
Don’t touch face.
Wear a mask.
Forgive self for forgetting
to socially distance.
Above all, don’t look at the dead
rat in the trap on the patio.
—Submitted on 06/10/2020
Mary Moen‘s work has appeared in Voice Catcher Journal. She writes: At nearly 75 years old, I wonder if I have always been sheltered. Do I know how others are responding to lack of perceived control, to not knowing if or when our world will right itself? Maybe this is the righting. I sit in my condo unit, sheltering not all that different from being retired, wondering what to write as a short biographical statement. Once I worked; once I was an active mother; now I live alone and long for hugs; sometimes I write.
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