19

Let’s pretend the worst is really over

Carry on bravely toward what looks like

The past, just before we dove for cover

When the status quo froze and dropped the mic

Weaving together memory and dreams

We fashion a mask for our small, wet brain

Holding the line between being and seems

We build new foundations beside the drain

I am not who I remember being

Nor are any of us; strange survivors

Under the brain fog, what became seeing?

Who can trust nervous, coughing advisors?

Normal was anodyne and insipid

Now it is gilded, and smashed, by COVID