Pandemic - 4.19.20
What
oxygen
what
hooks
what
will
with
or without
the
rugged eyebrow
rugged
you repeat
and
show us
a
craggy path
full
of boulders
and
rickety steps
only
the
faint
tremble
of
a trail guides
the
way
a
ghostly light
pale
green at first
then
sudden orange
when
a falling rock
shears
the skin off
my
right cheek
we
find a stream
to
wash away
the
blood
then
we run
then
crawl
on
all fours
as
water rises
to
the ceiling
inches
from
our
backs
we
are forced
to
slide
on
our bellies
our
mouths
straining
to
find
air
our
hands
scraped
to
the
bone
in
flight
it
takes
great
breath
or
faith or both
to
push ourselves
through
the slime
until
we rise up
through
the hole
into
the light
a
sudden door
through
the
family
corona
a
flood of tears
falls
down
the
soft hill
of
your cheek
into
the rest
of
my life
Pandemic - 5.4.20
What
started
this
mess
the
three-
minute
test
and
the ride
down
the back
road
to the house
with
the falling-
down
walls
grey
and weather-
beaten
boxes
hanging
off
the
windows
boards
stripped
and
termite-eaten
what
started
this
morning
was
nothing like
where
we ended up
walking
miles
to
find help
after
the car
ran
out of gas
we
thought
we
were going
to
work
that
we were
meeting
someone
for
breakfast
we
thought
we
might
have
a wank
take
a shower
thought
we would
feed
the dog
get
the mail
go
for a run
we
thought
the
sun would
come
up
we
thought
the
rain
the
garden
the
soup
that
the hens
would
lay some eggs
we
thought the greed
in
the morning paper
would
turn humble
we
thought there
was
somewhere safe
a
way to buy insurance
we
thought
our
mother
would
be alive
we
thought
an
old slight
would
be healed
thought
the knife
would
be sharp
thought
the floor
would
get clean
instead
we walked
down
the road
to
the old house
with
the falling
down
boards
a
shelter we once
thought
would
last
forever
but
our season
on
stage didn’t last
it
sunk below
every
notion
of
time
we
thought
but
were mistaken
Samuel Ace is a trans and genderqueer poet and sound artist, and the author most recently OUR WEATHER OUR SEA (Black Radish), and MEET ME THERE: NORMAL SEX & HOME IN THREE DAYS DON'T WASH (Belladonna). He is the recipient of the Astraea Lesbian Writers and Firecracker Alternative Book awards, as well as a Lambda Literary Award and the National Poetry Series finalist. Recent work can be found in ARC Poetry Magazine, Poetry, PEN America, Best American Experimental Poetry, and many other journals and anthologies. He currently teaches poetry and creative writing at Mount Holyoke College in western Massachusetts.