For years we wore masks
and then the pandemic came
and then we wore masks

1512

Is it hard for you

that your name is a brand name

starting with your dad?

 A role, and so long
Hiding and inhabiting
So long, now, so long.

Why do we stress that
someone grew up in a home
just when they didn't

- Inspired by and adapted from The Pull of the Stars, pg. 138


Every choice I make
seems to bring me new regrets
and that's a choice too

- Inspired by and adapted from The Pull of the Stars, pg. 154


Besides everything
that Corona is, it's a
monkey on my back


Sometimes, promised lands
are best viewed from the tops of
far away mountains

- Inspired by and adapted from a line in Pinny Bulman's poem, "To That End"

Old versus older:
Every second we're older,
so in time we're old.

*

I understand why
we bite the hand that feeds us
- because it's so close.

Facing the music:
Why is that such a bad thing?
Just face it and dance.

Adapted from observation of Billy Collins on his Pandemic Poetry Broadcast on Facebook today.