the vaccine question

He posted "I have an immune system!"

The anti-vaxxer anti-masker deputy sheriff 

Just weeks before COVID killed him at 33

Having spread it to an unknown number of contacts

When half the population hesitates or refuses 

Vaccination will not achieve herd immunity 

In the midst of a culture war against science and facts

COVID will continue to spread among them 

It's like they will get their wish after all 

The ones who fought against the shutdown 

As everything opens up fully again to them

Leaving them as exposed as their personal choice 

Being fully vaccinated I can relax somewhat 

Feeling entirely safe unmasked walking outside 

Visiting vaccinated friends and family inside 

Getting used to our social life starting again 

We are in the happy half of the population

Who have a measure of immunity now

Protected from a severe case of the virus

Unlike all the holdouts who scoff at the risk

So of course we will continue wearing masks

Any time we are inside a public building 

Being near these same people who deny evolution 

Seeing who will be the ones not fit to survive 

Goffle Brook May 31, 2021

view entire album

not once but twice this week

Not once but twice this week 

A moment of surprise followed by dismay 

The realization of an empty-headed mistake 

Doing what used to be automatic 

Something not packed I was sure I packed

Missing a credit card not handed back 

Not in either case causing real trouble 

Only the distress of an unforced error  

Symptoms of decline if you ask me 

But excusable if you want to dismiss it

As each happened at the end of a busy day

In the fog of fatigue that comes with age

And so I must learn to know my limits 

As the extent of my abilities slowly contracts

Accepting the things I cannot change 

Doing what I can to slow the progression 

Knowing what is important

Letting go of the rest

Getting on in years gives perspective 

Just when we need it most

 

unspoken thoughts

Wondering who was this man my uncle 

In addition to his generous giving 

Underneath his many good deeds 

Furthering a measure of social justice 

One-sided conversations with the dead 

Questions not asked remain behind 

Too personal to discuss when I could 

Too late now for things I will never know 

Thinking about him as a playful young boy

Growing up poor in backwoods New Hampshire 

Learning his lessons in a two-room schoolhouse 

No heat in the house except for a kitchen stove 

I read the books I took later from that house 

A glorified series The Boy Allies about fighting in WWI

But what I really want to know is all about 

My uncle’s feelings in relationship with his father

His father who lost his hand in an accident 

Working a sawmill summer job as a teenager 

His father who excelled in appliance sales until the Depression 

Left him trying to survive selling eggs in Lyme Center

His father who devised clever machinery to replace 

What a one-handed chicken farmer could not do 

His father who shot himself dead in despair 

Leaving a ten-year old fatherless boy

I would ask my uncle about the shared similarities 

With the girl he courted and married and adored all his life 

My aunt whose father also killed himself as I learned later

A kind of shameful secret never talked about 

Hidden like the unmentioned ghostly presence in their house 

In a separate room for my aunt's mother who lived with them

Bereft and grieving motionless in endless silent sadness 

Invisible behind the spirited noise of their five children 

It matters to me because I myself lost my mother as a boy 

And I dearly miss all the conversations we never had 

But at my uncle's memorial service I did not speak of it 

Being not the time or place to share such thoughts