our new language

anti-maskers don’t social distance 

protest mandates 

unfollow public health orders 

filling ICUs 

use up ventilators 

and we zoom 

can’t understand  vaccine hesitancy 

watch live-stream 

quarantine 

create protocols 

some carriers are symptom-free 

booster shots for immune-compromised 

create antibodies in the double-vaxxed 

who carry a vaccine passport 

and work towards a new normal 

cuz aerosol droplets are  

despite PPE 

test positivity rides the waves 

and we get rapid tests 

is this an essential service 

what happened to flatten the curve 

hit by the first wave 

and the second wave 

and the third wave

look a fourth wave cuz variant of concern 

and the delta variant 

crazy contact tracing 

after community spread 

we tried remote learning 

more regressive learning 

it’s all a supply chain delay

garden journal #6

pull tomatoes wire-

wound fragrance wafts ‘round

roots firmly earthbound

j. s. fall

and then leaves start 

letting 

go 

colours like dropped arpeggios after 

a spring and summer of green 

holding on through gales and rare rain 

and heat and then these trees 

go into winter mode and cut ties 

litter ground with 

yellow brown and red 

reasons to rake all my 

autumn questions into piles of brittle 

questions of age and want 

and fear and love 

and ok 

where did Bach’s music come from 

notes showered on our lives 

with overwhelming beauty 

like answers  from an inscrutable oracle

garden journal #5

purple red and white

blossoming in green pre-frost

sweet pea happiness