A virus takes your energy
And everything it saps
Results in lack of everything
Except, of course, for naps.
(“I of the Beholder”, 2014, original pen and ink)
The Zombie Apocalypse
The zombie apocalypse began a long time ago
First as a slow burn
As it spread friend to friend, town to town
A mind virus contagion
Hiding itself within a politically correct smile
But now a full-on raging blaze
Crowning as it leaps and jumps
Rivers and mountains, continents really
In its global conflagration
Spread not by bites and infected saliva
But by bytes of an infecting propaganda
Once called fake news, now fatal news
Fatal to reason, and friendships, peace of mind
And a healthy future
Eating away from inside
Until all that is left is a shell
With yet another zombie hidden safely within
The zombie apocalypse began a long time ago
But only now is it obvious
Its course a long way from run
(11/5/24)
Like a ghost I sit here
No one notices me
With their heads down, like they have somewhere to be
Hustling around like ants on a mound
Going in circles Around Around Around
Everyone like robots coded on path
The villains designing their evil wrath
There's a virus that spreads in the air.
Electronics all they do is Tear Tear Tear
Ups and downs
We experience throughout the year
Down in the dump at one moment
And jump with joy at another
Feelings can be controlled by our emotions
Or the surrounding
Or the weather
Or simply out of control
The epidemic comes and goes on and off
Lingering
Hiding somewhere
Peeping and waiting
Causing prolonged sadness and depression
Restrictions on outings and dine-ins
Hindrance on business activities and intimate contacts
Wow what had happened to this world
Are we and our feelings going to be controlled by the virus
Signifying a war between man and the virus
Instead of a war between man and man
Man and the alien
Man and the other planet
A paradox to be solved indeed
virus in the air
some care
not me said Mare
Never gets sick no matter what
loving her resistance, she's open, not shut
virus in air?
She does not care.
Your words
Dripping with venom
Your emotions
Crippled and diseased
Creating a toxic imbalance
I knew I had to leave
You were a walking virus.
(c)2023. Lenny Gazbowski
Looking out the window, straining hard to see.
Searching for the virus,
trees are all I see.
I know it’s out there somewhere,
I know it’s after me.
Determined to destroy me,
or that is what it seems.
No breeze among the trees.
They must be looking too.
They know it’s hiding out there. What are they to do?
.
Awash . My clean hands. My paws
I pray with folded hands. I pause
I hold. No gaps in my fingers
I give. Receive compulsive
An Order Humility wish
Still...I ...Pray
for
all
for
Me
Free
in love
in faith
no fears
to receive
and to give
Unenforced.
There I hold thee
no fears ....nor guilt
Paradox to wash clean
in gallons of synthetics
Hold on. A spoof this
All the hand sanitizers of WHO CDC
will not sweeten this little hand. Alas
Now I suffer compulsive fear of giving
You are always on my mind
Like a virus eating away my soul
The more I try to get you
Out and be free the more
You gnaw at my resistance
Tormenting me day and night
I try gently to ease you out
I try violently to oust you
From my veins
But every effort bounces back
Why are you so cruel to me?
You swore you love me no more
You claim we had nothing going on
Please free me and let me go
Refrain from killing me slowly
I was diagnosed with double-pneumonia on the 15th and classes started on the 17th. I’m already getting nagmail about assignments, yea! I’ll be behind and virtual for a while. It started as a rhinovirus, honestly, I don’t even remember being around a rhinoceros, but he trampled me good. (Hmm, song title there?)
I’m feeling better today, I can read without the room spinning - heck, I even managed to write this, but a new, implacable nemesis - low-energy - is here, like Lebron James, to check me when I attempt something over ambitious, like picking up my chemistry book. At least I got to stay in my room.
My roommate Sunny’s so angry with a certain girl that she even thinks it’s hilarious. Her creative, revenge beast has been awakened and her feelings are practically colors in the air. It’s entertaining. I think if she saw her now - well, let's say Sunny takes boxing in the gym every morning. “I’m over her already,” Sunny announces, stomping around her room, trashing all reminders on contact.
Be careful out there, people - if love doesn’t get you the rhino might.
.
.
nagmail - mail about late assignments, class papers due, surveys
In times of discord and debauchery
the need to tell the whole world the truth
yet who knows what is truth today
the powers to be, a mask
that of intolerance
to manipulate
each living day
coached to be
passive
dumb.
© Harry J Horsman 2020
Lockdown Visions
Separated,
taken away,
through the window, I catch your searching eyes,
I try to wave,
Raindrops slide down
the glass,
and become our tears.
How can such a short distance
Place us so far apart,
We want to be there with you,
To be there,
as your minute's pass,
As the daylight fades to dark,
As starlight fills the night with mystery,
No more worries, no more washing up,
A child, a teenager, a mother,
Caregiver,
Separated,
Separated now,
by stone and glass
and a virus
Tears run down the window,
Our faces
pressed against
Glass.
(Dedicated to all separated from their loved ones in their final moments)
John Roberts
Leak, lack, lockdown...
Crazy happiness and people down
In the desert, downtown.
Courageous men and women wear scrubs,
masks, white gloves, and black net caps.
They, too, eat their meals from plastic tubs,
what's left over from supper scraps?
At night, their bones begin to break down.
In the outpatient and hospitalized wards.
On the other side of the earth, in clinics around.
across the middle of the COVID swords.
Do not remove pricey clothes or freeze.
Their newly cleaned blues made for a breeze.
They have what they need to get the job done.
If you firmly grab your hand with a striped tone,
Unfortunately, it was the start of a new day.
while fresh, sickening showers beat cruelly away.
CORONA VIRUS BLUES
I don’t know about you
What are we supposed to do?
What we’re going through is completely new
The toilet paper has disappeared
What is going on around here?
I’ve got corona virus blues
I don’t know what to do
People are going mad
The world is turning sad
Here we are in isolation
Not a very good sensation
Here we are all getting bored
What are we all waiting for?
Waiting for this all to end
Waiting just to hug a friend
We all have to stick together
This will not last forever
This will all end one day
Then we can all go out and play
I’ve got corona virus blues
I guess you feel it too
We’re doing our best to get through
That is all we can do
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