Best Pandemic Poems
A field of wheat cloaked in dewy silence
the orchestra tunes up with avian arias
bullfrog basses and a choir of cawing crows,
xanthic sunflowers turning their heads to better see,
the daylight trajectory commencing with lazuline layering,
a breeze glissandoes on harps of oak leaves
tomorrow is now today,
and I am grateful.
An officer of the law taps on my door
my breath and heartbeat screech to a sudden stop
preparing for the next-of-kin speech, or
where-were-you-on-the-night-of-the-23rd interrogation,
instead she informs me my car is ten inches in the red
and with a smile suggests I move it before I get a citation
pulse resumes as oxygen reunites with lungs,
and I am grateful.
A mask sitting by the front door; my ticket to commerce
the media replaying riot scenes, lockdown measures,
sporting event cancellations, worship restrictions,
death tolls, closed restaurants, and drive-by graduations.
Yet I am virus-free, housed, gainfully employed,
surrounded by family and electronically socialized,
I have my necessities: I am well-fed, well-loved,
and I am grateful.
written 30 Aug 2020
it is dawn in the city
and all is quiet and hushed
today, I wrote seven words . . .
the streets are windswept still
a lonely soul- I wander
painted pigeons follow me
my page of words swirls away
_______________________
May 14, 2020
Poetry/Seven Words Swirling
Copyright Protected, ID 20-1252-172-03
All Rights Reserved, 2020, Constance La France
Written for the contest, Finish Line In Seven
sponsor, nette onclaud, Theme chosen - #1 City Life
First Place
Poem of the Day, May 16, 2020
In nineteen eighteen there was an outbreak of flu
Caused little concern, only affected a few
But it returned with a vengeance later that year
And the world over it caused widespread fear.
First reported in Spain, and around the world spread
When it was over, fifty million people were dead
Hospitals were stretched and they struggled to cope
For both young and old, there wasn't much hope.
It affected the lungs and caused skin to turn blue
Only comfort was given it was all they could do
In effect it caused people to suffocate
And continued to spread at an alarming rate.
People advised to avoid crowds and to wear masks
They struggled to perform even basic daily tasks
Remote areas in the world were affected too
By this airborne killer virus, the great Spanish flu.
Effort's were made to slow down this disease
But slowly and surely it brought the world to its knees
Shops opening times were staggered all over the lands
People strongly advised not to shake hands.
Undertakers were struggling to cope with demands
Families' buried loved ones with their own hands
Healthy men and women and children too
Were all falling victim to the great Spanish flu.
Because of World War One, doctors were few
And those that were available, many fell sick too
Temporary hospital's set up in schools or church hall
With many brave volunteers answering the call.
They closed many schools, services were hit too
With workers struck down by this merciless flu
Late nineteen nineteen the virus reached its peak
Immunity grew stronger but it still struck the weak.
Sadly mankind had suffered and paid a great cost
To the great Spanish flu with millions of lives lost
The pandemic was now over, survivors started to thrive
But were mournful of the millions who did not survive.
Written 4th April 2018.
( Dedicated to the fifty million people who died
in the Spanish flu pandemic in the years 1918 to 1919. )
Buried Alive
These walls....
they laugh at me but no one else hears
They steal the very breath of me
...but no one seems to notice
They blare a suffocating silence
Leave invisible abrasions from unseen restraints
These walls I once called home
These walls have become my coffin
~FJ Thomas
Most of us run through varying emotions at times. It helps to jot them down and get them out ;) These walls can be emotional or very literal. Usually the one causes the other to collapse in along with it.
The important thing is to remember that there are others who very much understand how you feel; you are not alone. So never give up!
A traveling newcomer
explorer of worlds
adventurer
across the seas
from galaxies a far
new universes
such beauty and wonder
a grand tour
earth seems like a second home
breathtaking landscapes, scenery
diversity
birds and bees
flowers everywhere
the human species there interesting
after a while they started though
to die
in the tens
then thousands
then millions
he was sad
he began so see
he was the cause
of this horrible plaque
unlike humans
he had 9 hearts and
24 souls
he toiled
day and night
being far more advanced
he provided them the cure
then he became perplexed
they seemed to wish death
like lemmings
some species
worship death
embrace it
dance to fairytales
evolution is not
for everyone
Covidiots
WHAT IF Written Pre-Pandemic
What if a rigid thinking, extremist group
Decided to do something about Planet Earth’s
Over-population,
I mean let’s just think about this, fantasy
Of course, Just a vivid imagination!
What if they wanted to eradicate and eliminate
At least fifty per cent of humans’ world wide
And the ‘HOW” would leave nowhere to hide.
The secret would purposefully be let to leak,
So that chaos would reign, terror would spread,
People would freak!
Traversing from one side of the globe
To the other, Armies and Air force alerted,
Governments, Presidents and Prime Ministers,
Appeasing and trying to calm hysteria,
A killer cerebral virus, a very aggressive malaria,
To be released the news headlines said,
Within days millions will be dying or dead!
What if fifty per cent of the rest of world
Were told would be allowed to live,
People then going into frenzy,
Who was to stay alive and who was to die?
What if this extremist group succeeded
And brought this horror to fruition,
What a demon like, despicable ambition
What if?
Think of the film Inferno
That virus was caught just in time,
And so the hero prevented an
Inhumane crime!
In this pestilential year time forgot
behind maskless faces false facts hold sway,
it’s hard to write nice, when our world is not
what should a poet in quarantine say?
Behind maskless faces false facts hold sway,
while plague is loose and climate still warming
what can a poet in quarantine say
no one cares about daffodils charming.
While plague is loose and climate still warming
yet best science alerts go unheeded
no one cares about daffodils charming
at this time transformation is needed.
When best science warnings are not heeded
it’s hard to write nice, when our world is not
for this time transformation is needed
in this pestilential year time forgot.
No I'm not kidding , believe what I say.
Step behind the orange line and behind it you stay.
Yes, I'll scan your items from six feet away
but stay behind the orange line until its time to pay.
It's not rocket science, there's a pandemic, its real.
You may not believe it , but respect how we feel.
Stay six feet back and yes its a big deal.
We say it continuously , our mantra , our spiel.
Some of you get it and some are just dense.
Some get indignant and really take offense.
But the lines and the barriers to us just make sense.
When you get too close can't you see that we're tense.
Those lines were put there for a reason you see
and it might stay this way for one season or three.
So listen , dear customer, listen to me.
Get behind the orange line or no sale will there be.
26/04/2020
Non-essential! It takes time to
digest the public offense, bruising the poetic ego
essential only to itself, as broad as the world.
Howling winds, dark clouds, ghost cities,
horizons overbreaming with despair, the low
widespreading doubt and the high feverish days
filled with progressive red dots on world map, the
incalculable pain, spirit out of sight, from my home
so far away from and yet so close to work, I run
hope's high tide hour, caught on its windblown antenna, its gentle touch on my parched lips, manifesting in form God's grace like raindrops on
windows' pane, a poet's disease of tides, insisting
on poetry's essential nourishment of the soul, with lion's pride, uplifting earth's exhausted staff not knowing who'll feed the hungry and the birds – poets
decree their own confinement to rules of beauty, unhinged freedom,
requiring no appeal.
When the sound of silence, wails
And sobs of crying deafens our fearful minds
Our streets are cold and empty
And there’s no one to be found
Only the shuffling of City workers
As they clean a ghostly town
Storms are silently raging
Uncertainties abound
My soul is contemplating
Disaster is all around
Eyes steering out at the invisible
Imagining faces they once knew
Smiles gaged to breathless
As death takes our point of view
A virus not only taking bodies
But our laughter and our joy
In dire need of a savior
We pull a vaccine from the clouds
Ending are here…
Everything is changing fast
Life is not the same
In this New World Order
Vaccination is not a game
If you don’t conform
In darkness, you’ll remain
Someone turned off the sun
And left us in the rain
Storms are silently raging
Uncertainties abound
My soul is contemplating…
The misery life’s become
Everything is changing
Nothing is the same
May the forces protect you
In this viral age
Soundtrack by Ofshane
Written by Arturo Michael
American healthcare is a joke
Government play on too many folk
Those who can't pay
Die everyday
Whilst Trump switches from Lysol to Coke
The cooings of a snow-white dove
Beseech the wind to bring us love
But pandemics apart
Don't you dare touch my heart
Unless you wear a rubber glove!
I’ve had enough of chicken soup,
it always tastes the same;
as COVID-19 sweeps the world
and leaves our loved ones lame,
Poetrysoup is just the thing
to ease away the pain.
Just today, in Italy,
I read that neighbors sing,
through open windows across the streets
while kept in quarantine.
Here, we neighbors of the world
now open up our screens,
and gather up our thoughts and words
and let our heartstrings sing.
The music of our keyboards carries far,
more quickly than a sneeze,
to make our fellow human beings
feel much more at ease.
Nearly neighbor, unseen friend,
let us share our songs,
across the streets of data bits,
no matter what the wrong.
March 13, 2020
Coronavirus Covid 19 contest
Sponsored by Team PoetrySoup
it can be a market crash
a global outbreak
it can be a Mount Saint Helen
for me it was Northridge, California
January 17th, 1994
I saw myself in the eyes of children
hungry, shocked, confused
clinging to mothers
their reality and the earth
both trembling underfoot
I was given no script, no rules to follow
all that was asked of me was empathy
to understand, to be one of God's children
to see nothing more became an eligibility factor
one man came bruised, bludgeoned
his stare a chisel to stone
the truth echoing from his wife
her face, her words
the doors that he crumbled
the force of his mission
to save neighbors
dozens if not more
how he flew under media scrutiny
sitting before me
my heart the only thing between them
and the miracle of sustenance
I became severed
then placed the gift of humanity
squarely at their feet
Disrespecter of borders,colour and creed
This pandemic reveals a truth we all must heed
To know that we are all but one and the same
Beneath our skin and culture in this life's game
Where we suffer the sad symptoms and the pain
To reclaim our common brotherhood again
From this dark cloud a silver lining brightens
So that belief in our unity heightens
Such grim moments see us drop our defences
Allowing us clearly to come to our senses
Whether rich or poor,white or black,young or old
In shared humanity we find our true gold
So let this plain message ring out loud and clear
When acting together we have naught to fear.