“A Pandemic Missive” by Sara Aharon

A Pandemic Missive

Let me tell you

Something today:

I am alive but on shaky ground

And I know I’m alive

Because I wake up in the morning

To colorful charts showing me how many people

In my city, in my country

And everywhere else

Are known

To have

Died from something so small

I can’t zap it with spray

Or shush it away

Nor step on it

With my blue suede boots

Not even shoot

Or cut it out of my body like the tumour

That hid in my throat.

They insist I can’t kill it with medications (not yet anyway)

Like the ones that choked the disease

Invading my breast

With way too much ease.

And I know I am still alive because I hear every day,

All day, what not to do, where not to go,

Who not to touch

where not to slouch

Covid-19 in Ontario by Public Health Unit

How close I can stand

How far I can bend

Where to walk

In what direction and style

Down the supermarket aisle

How far apart I can drive

From those who are also still alive

And just like me

Hoping to never really know

The thing they can’t see

Or crush, or shoot with a bow.

I know I am alive because

When I look out the window

On this shimmering spring day

I see a red robin

My neighbors’ fluffy dog Ray

And I know I am still alive

 And I wonder if fighting two cancers

In two years

May have been an exercise,

 A run-through, a practice

When drugs coursing

Through my veins wiped out my white cells

Maybe going to work with a mask, washing my hands

Till my skin peeled

Was my part of a deal

So I could live

So I could tell you

It’s not a drill

That every battle won

Is a thrill.

Don’t be fooled

Each one is

The

Big One

Each

Is worth the effort

As the prize is waking up

On a spring day

To see one more time

The sun in its shimmering glory

The red robin

And a dog called Ray.

Sara Aharon lives in Toronto. She is the proud mother of two adult daughters. These days she makes her living as a virtual psychologist, and since she has more time on her hands, she writes about plagues (and other things).

See Brian Henry’s schedule here, including writing workshops, weekly online writing classes, and weekend retreats in, Alliston, Bolton, Barrie, Brampton, Burlington, Caledon, Collingwood, Georgetown, Georgina, Guelph, Hamilton, Jackson’s Point, Kingston, Kitchener-Waterloo, London, Midland, Mississauga, Oakville, Ottawa, Peterborough, St. Catharines, Southampton, Sudbury, Toronto, Windsor, Woodstock, Halton, Muskoka, Peel, Simcoe, York Region, the GTA, Ontario and beyond.