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Back To Normal

Back to normal

Breathe in...
breathe out
eyes flicker then open

adjust to the light of 
a brand new day!

It feels like life 
is getting back to normal.
No masks,
sanitizer, 
anywhere in sight.

I venture outside 
for what seems like 
forever,
Oh the summer sun
feels great on the skin!

Breathe in...
choke...choke
as smoke 
fills my lungs 
and ash floats on the breeze,
My hope burns 
like the northern cedars

Where's my mask? 
Oh there it is, great!

A feeling of calm 
washes over me as I
understand that life 
indeed is back to normal
(whatever that is)

John Derek Hamilton
July 30,2023

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Mark Toney Date: 8/7/2023 9:22:00 AM Welcome back, John. Write on! Login to Reply John Hamilton Date: 8/7/2023 1:23:00 PM Thanks Mark nice to "see" you today.

Charlotte Puddifoot Date: 7/31/2023 6:58:00 AM how nice to see you back on the site :) it's good to read your poetry again Login to Reply John Hamilton Date: 7/31/2023 7:05:00 AM Hi Charlotte nice to "see" you today. Any air quality issues where you are? I see in Osoyoos, BC they have to evacuate and maybe other places. These fires may burn until winter.

Joanna Daniel Date: 7/30/2023 10:35:00 PM Welcome back, John, to the new normal... Love that ending:) great poem:) missed you very much... Login to Reply John Hamilton Date: 7/31/2023 7:03:00 AM Hi Joe nice to see you today. I hope my motivation to write again comes back.

Vijay Pandit Date: 7/30/2023 5:34:00 PM Welcome back, John. It is wonderful to see you again. Yes--we are slowly returning to normal. May be not there yet--but hope is on the horizon. Login to Reply John Hamilton Date: 7/31/2023 7:02:00 AM Hi Vijay nice to see you pass by, yeah slowly slowly back to the new normal.

Tom Woody Date: 7/30/2023 4:58:00 PM Normal? Ha! But I understand what you mean. Relative noimal. Anyway good to see ya mate Login to Reply John Hamilton Date: 7/31/2023 7:01:00 AM Hey Tom how are you? I knew you'd be back. Yeah a little tongue in cheek, new normal wearing masks for the smoke. Over 25 million hectares of forest has burned in Canada, the size of Ohio. Some days there are air quality warnings and with my asthma I can't go out.

Lin Lane Date: 7/30/2023 4:34:00 PM Wearing masks was a means of survival against covid germs. Pity if they become a ‘normal’ means of salvation for toxins in our world. It’s so good to read you, John! Login to Reply Lin Lane Date: 7/30/2023 5:06:00 PM What a tragic waste of a forest, John, in addition to the health problems it has and will cause to those who are breathing that air. John Hamilton Date: 7/30/2023 4:56:00 PM Thanks Lin, much of North America is smoke covered from the forest fires here in Canada. Fires have burned 25 million hectares of forest, the size of the state of Ohio, sad state of affairs.