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Best Poems Written by Richard Colbert

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Conversation With Omicron

Conversation with Omicron

I’m speaking with Omicron. Omicron is a well known antagonist of the health care system and frequently mentioned in political discussions. First, why did you come here?

I didn’t “come here”. I was brought here. Your people came
and got me. I had enough work where I was.

A lot has been discussed about your origins, whether you are natural, like the flu or are you manmade, to be a weapon, say, for biological warfare?

Everything is “natural”. Even manmade, as you call it, is natural
since everything comes from nature. And we don’t weaponize.
You decide what weapons are made, and their purpose. You
should be looking within.

So now you’re here helping the others? Isn’t there enough chaos without you?

I’m not helping. I’m replacing. Like so many other things in
your society, they’ve been minimized and marginalized. I bring
a fresh perspective and in the process, take the heat off of
them.

Then what; you leave?

I’ll hunker down and wait. I’m just a diversion anyway.

But then the rest leave?

The others are sort of hibernating. They’ll never truly leave.
One of our many redeeming qualities is we can spin off, like tv
shows. You give us your best shot to get rid of us and we
adapt.

So you clone yourself?

Oh good heavens no. That takes a lot work and time. We
change. You call it mutate. We’re sorta like fraternal twins.
only there’s a lot more than two. There’s just enough change
that we create a new one, a variant, if you will.
One might be faster or stronger, longer lasting, more resilient
each one of us has similar characteristics but a few individual
ones as well.

Earlier you said you’ll hunker down and wait and you’re just a diversion. What did you mean?

I’ll never go away. Like the others, you’ll focus less on me and
more on a“new variant” and I’ll just quietly blend in and
at some point down the road, re-emerge, bigger, stronger and
with a new name. While you’re focusing on me and the others,
you’re ignoring the more serious problems, the ones within, the
truths about who you really are.

You caused us to fight among ourselves?

We didn’t cause anything. You were already heading in
that direction. We are just the vehicle for
your true selfs to emerge. We provided you an
opportunity for discussion, debate, purpose, something
to rally around and come together. You took that as a line in
the sand, for people to take sides. You spend more time
fighting about which side is right. Finding a solution isn’t
important.

Do you have any remorse or regret for all the pain, suffering and death you and the others have caused?

There you go again, putting this on me and the others. Like
i told you before, you brought us here. We are not
responsible. The deaths and suffering as you call it, the
enormous cost and the holes you dug, that’s
on you. You could have dealt with us in a more professional
manner, worked with us as partners. But you only care about
your own agendas and not each other. But then, that’s the
way you’ve always been.

What’s next?

For you? I can’t answer that. As for us, now that we know how
easy it is to set up shop, we’ll be here, doing our jobs,
giving you more opportunities to understand yourselves,
although I don’t think that’ll ever happen. It seems some of
you like to divide and conquer and look at us as a tool
to that end. I’d say “Good luck” but luck has nothing to do with it.
How about, “until we meet again.”

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Haiku 32

could i imagine
a life with you not in it
breathing with no air

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We Need a Particle Zapper

FIRST, THERE'S A NEED
“We have a lot of dust in the house. Where does it come from?
How do we prevent that?”

THE IDEA OR THOUGHT OR REMEDY
The idea or thought or remedy was seen or read about
on the internet, one of the communal websites.
“It says here that there is a device that will zap particles
and clean harmful bacteria and germs and odors and stuff,
including covid-19, from the air.
I think we need to add a particle sanitizer.”
With a limited amount of discussion but plenty
of internet encouragement, the contractor is called.

THE CONTRACTOR AND THE TRADE OFF
He installs the particle zapper and a filter 4 times
larger than the old filter. “More surface area, the greater
the filtration, less dust. The zapper is always on, scrubbing out
harmful bacteria and germs and odors and stuff
but the hvac fan needs to run. Your electric bill will go up,
that’s the trade off for cleaner, safer air.”
The system is upgraded.

HAPPY CAMPERS (BUT WE'RE NOT CAMPING)
Everyone is happy. Normally dust will settle on
surfaces within 2 days of dusting. 2 weeks now and nada, zip, nothing.
And the odors are gone, not that there were a lot to begin with.
In fact if the fellow who installed the zapper and filter
hadn’t told us about the odors, we wouldn’t have known we had them.
But that constant humming of the fan is annoying.
“Maybe we turn it off at night. it’s kind of loud at night”
“But what about cleaning the air? We’ll be only
eliminating 2/3 of the dust and only zapping 2/3 of
the harmful bacteria and germs and odors and stuff”.

THE POE EFFECT
At first I thought we’d get used to it and eventually not even hear it.
But she heard it all the time. I could live with it.
For me, it was like when I was in the Navy, being on board a ship.
It was only when the noise or humming stopped did I notice.
But she heard it, all the time, and said so, all the time.
The constant humming noise was becoming our ‘Tell-Tale Heart’
We agreed that we could turn it off once in awhile, specifically
when we had windows open.

THE GREAT COMPROMISE
After running the fan, off and on, for a month, we found that there
is probably no need to run it all the time. We run it during the day
and at night we shut it off, open windows and cool the house down.
We can live with that, I guess. It’s funny how one day the dust is a real health hazard and nuisance. A month later it’s hardly noticeable.

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Ramble 2

i started tracking my weight, exercise, what i eat
every morning i do this little dance
with the bathroom scale
i get up, dress in the same thing,
weigh myself and subtract 4 pounds

some mornings if i don’t like the results
i will subtract another pound for the
cup of coffee i drank
doesn’t matter how big the cup was

if the results are still not favorable,
i will do my exercises, my walk,
then weigh myself

when the dance is over, i’ll log my weight
and threaten to buy a new scale 

then i eat

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Chat

cold
physically, emotionally, spiritually
hollowed out like a two hundred year old redwood 
ravaged by fire, i didn’t care
my sense of purpose had long lost its relevance
spiraling out of control and letting it happen.
i had to admit, i needed help 
we had a relationship once, You and me, 
we used to chat, 
though it’d been a while.
i believed You would help me. 
thats what You do.
So i called on You
and waited for a response. 
… crickets
maybe a little more reflecting wouldn’t hurt.
…so i waited and i called on You again.
You must have known i would reach out. 
You must have heard my cries. 
where were You? away on business?
i thought it was ego or pride. 
or both.
not coming to You regularly 
seems to piss You off
maybe there’s a lesson to be learned
i knew one of us had to blink.
then i remembered, You don’t blink.
it’s pretty much Your way or the highway. 
i realized this time i wasn’t going to blink either.
now what? 
… more crickets
i learned early i am responsible 
for my actions
i read a person must trust in himself
ultimately, one can’t rely on anyone else
one needs to develop inner strength 
be honest with himself, face life, face reality. 
no one or thing is going to save me
only i can
in the past, i believed in myself 
when most wrote me off.
and in a moment of clarity,
i figured it out

the righteous will say You did hear me
You heard my cries and answered
my action was Your response.
giving me the strength to ask for help
to pull myself up, to be a light for others
it was You working through me. 
they’ll say there’s a bigger picture 
that i don’t see or get.
someday an explanation will be revealed.
i suppose those are possibilities 
but i don’t understand; 
what’s Your point?
is this about me
or about You or
You and me?
teaching? compassion?
put them before myself?
feel the pain i inflicted on others?
exalt You as the only one who can “fix things?” 
how does that work? 
i get credit for failing and You for healing.
maybe someday if You have time, 
we can have coffee and chat about it.
we’ll meet some place where we can
sit outside and You can blow more smoke

Best Poems Written by Richard Colbert

I Am An Old Man

Covid 2

Dimpled Spheres

2-3-2 Haiku Or Miku

Garage Sale

Conversation With Omicron

Haiku 32

We Need a Particle Zapper

Ramble 2

Chat

Member Area

Soup Social

Member Poems

Member Poets

Famous Poems

Famous Poets

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