Life in the Time of COVID-19, Part 38
Today’s poem is by Austin-area poet, Shelly Barber, who is also an advocate for people with mental illness. The included image comes from “The Anatomy of Fear,” published by The WEEK magazine, Dec. 14, 2019.
Developing Agoraphobia
By Shelly Barber
Crazy stalks me as a rabid fan
In love with how well I portray its likeness
I cringe deeper in the shadows
But it swivels its head and
Pierces the veil of my sanity
I cower in my house
Infected with a cowardice deep
In my soul
A banshee crouched in the rafters
Screams a cruel virus into world
Covid-19 prowls the streets
Insinuating itself among the crowds
As strangers on a train
Who exchange a plan of death
I’m so afraid
I’m petrified
I can’t think, or act
Or rationalize
As Every Aspect of Interaction
Is Vilified…
And I’m now
ABSOLUTELY TERRIFIED
sinking into my lizard brain
my words devolving into sing-song and rhyme
I shrink into a smaller space every day
The outside world void to me
My home smaller yet
Until three basic words define
My existence
Stove, Toilet, Bed
There will be no vaccine that cures what’s become of me
Wonderful imagery, great pacing, tight terse punchy lines. Love the poen
” My existence .. stove, toilet, bed….” Pretty much sums it up. This is such a poignant COVID poem. I also liked the allusion to: “Crazy stalks me like a rabid fan.” Great lines. Thank you for this poem.
Every aspect of interaction is vilified… so true on so many levels of this year and our new lives. Thank you for putting it out there. Well done.