Safety Harbor March 22, 2020

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a bit of continuity

Every evening as we sit eating our dinner

Looking out the windows watching the pond

Flocks of laughing gulls pause and drop down 

Coming to take a drink and then take a bath.

 

Listening for these garrulous shorebirds calling out

Such a variety of vocalizations besides a chuckle

Sometimes more like crying or talking it over

Coming to a consensus on what they will do.

 

How gracefully they skim the surface to drink

Veering left and right in a dance of avoidance

Before settling down in a tight cluster to bathe

Including stragglers arriving a bit late to the party.

 

Such a delight for us to witness their display

Learning the patterns in their behavior 

Providing a bit of continuity in our lives

When human affairs around us are upended.

 

An individual bird flies towards me and up overhead

Pulling itself along as if its wings are oars

Tipping to turn like an airborne top wheeling around 

Before gliding back down to rejoin the others. 

 

When the group rises up together wings fluttering

The flock moves as if all of one mind 

Flashing white wings synchronized so beautifully 

As I watch spellbound silently transported. 

Boyd Hill March 21, 2020

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Indian Rocks to Taylor Lake March 20, 2020

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what will it be?

The moment you feel a sore throat scratch

When you cough once or twice from the irritation 

The possibility occurs as an uninvited thought 

Is this the start of the infection symptoms?

No one knows who will survive the pandemic 

As we learn how to get through one day at a time 

Anticipating the entire population suffering so much 

It's best to get your affairs in order if you can.

What we see in Italy and now in Spain

Foreshadows what to expect here

Hospitals forced to triage who will get treated

Unable to attempt to save everyone.

If you are quarantined with no visitors allowed

There will be no bedside touching goodbye

No last chance to make right any wrongs

No gathering afterwards to mark your passing.

In these uncertain times we are all at risk 

Some more vulnerable than others

But anyone's number could be called 

So tell the people you love that you love them. 

There are months to go before the worst is over 

To be followed by years of terrible deprivation

Out of work and living in desperate poverty 

With people of color bearing the brunt of it. 

In the face of such an awful prospect 

People turn to each other for comfort and strength 

Ready to do whatever it takes to make it better 

Open to radical measures to change the priorities. 

But first we must live to see that day

With a government that has betrayed us

Loyal to the stock market first and foremost

Leaving us to pay the price for their for profit system.

Lake Seminole March 19, 2020

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John Chesnut March 18, 2020

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on edge

It's not just the hospitals getting overwhelmed

The thought of what is to come has everyone on edge 

As almost the whole world goes into emergency isolation 

The increasing mass anxiety and fear is palpable.

For sure it's going to get much worse

And it will be quite some time before it gets better 

The progression of this virulent disease uncertain 

The depth of the unfolding recession unknown.

Our immediate challenge is how to stay calm

When the situation is completely out of control 

Breathing in and out while taking precautions 

Going about our altered lives where danger lurks.

This will be the new normal for the foreseeable future

The way that everything can change overnight

Making all the structural shortcomings painfully apparent

When government and healthcare are all about the money. 

But something good could come of this crisis 

If we force a complete overhaul of this corrupt system 

Putting the needs of all the people before business profits 

Putting the current capitalist rulers out of power.