2020 Duplex

Linda Mitchell

This poem brought all the wrong tools for the job
I’ve rolled up my sleeves to dig by hand

2020 is a year to lend a hand
gloved hands, smiles behind masks

Love thy neighbor is spelled w-e-a-r a m-a-s-k
After derecho, hurricane, flood, and fires

Hurricane before flood, derecho before fires
too many birds with nowhere to rest

Neither harvest-moon nor harvest time offer rest
There’s a vote to bring in, cell phones to ring

Approved counting is by tree trunk ring
Closed eyes clasped hands circle the wreck

Poets throw lines to clear the wreck
This poem brought all the wrong tools for the job

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Bridge the Distance: An Oral History of COVID-19 in Poems Copyright © 2021 by Linda Mitchell is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.

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