I hand wash my masks
And hang them on the porch to dry
A line I never thought I’d write
But I never thought
I’d do a lot of things
Like learn more every day
From my social media feeds
Than I ever did in a high school history book
The governor says
We should stay home if we can
But reopens the state
Keeps it open, keeps in open
I see an article that warns us
America might start to treat
The pandemic spread
Like we do gun violence
A problem countries have solved
While we normalize people dying
(we would, we do, don’t we)
Abandon the phrase
‘Back to normal’
Because we can never go back again
Could you? Would you want to?
Now that you know
What you know
Don’t look away
Look
At the bodies
In the streets
Payed for by us
Our taxes
Our silence
With Love,
Natalie