It’s something new.
It’s exciting.
But this staying home will grow old.
Bring on the domestic
and all other fighting.
Bring on the hate,
To blame the other,
It’s not too late,
To name the guy’s mother,
Insulting him and his pride,
Tapping his mental dysfunction,
Taking everyone for a ride
Like the sycophant’s unction
And the reactionary, retributive,
Makes-no-sense violence goes
On and on and on.
And when we get bored,
As we, surely, will….
Just then he heard that the door
Of big business pay-out flew
Into the little businesses’ store —
Big business buying up the stores
And there then
Will be no more
Mom and pop stores
And by the way,
How are things at the border’s door
And the cages and all
The children on the
Hard, cold, unsanitary floor
And while we stay home
Is anyone paying attention to the store,
er, Casa Blanca?

He took off his glasses,
examined the outside
of the lens, noticed
the spray of something
blocking his vision.
“Every day, often, I
deal with this. Where
does this stuff come
from?” he asked. His
wife said, “Just be glad
you wear glasses.” “May-
be I should get goggles?”
“Hold off for a while, my
lovable, one-eyed Minion.”
“Hey, I still have a little
sight in that eye.” “That
you do, darling, and I’m
glad for you and me.”

When he was fifteen, he had surgery
and in the recovery room, he heard
the nurses talking. He asked if one

of the nurses would hold his hand.
He just needed someone to hold
his hand. The nurses laughed and

said that they were too busy to
stop and hold a patient’s hand.
Then one did. When he was forty-

eight and his wife died in a day,
the neurologists and neurosurgeons
were very busy diagnosing and prog-

nosing. When she died and he, the
husband, stood over her body, the
Episcopal chaplain asked if he,

the devastated, wanted prayer. He said
yes and the chaplain held his hand.
To this day, twenty-seven years later,

the man can feel the tenderness in
that touch and the humility in that
prayer. And now we have to separate,

keep our distance, not touch at all
in an attempt to stem the tide of
this virus, but the isolating, separat-

ing, distancing will only add to the
anxiety at a time when we need to
feel the tender touch of love.

Perhaps, for now, we need to learn
how to spell “vicarious.”

He bought the running shoes online,
in part because he got such a good
deal and, in part because he wanted
to try this particular brand and, in

part because, as his son-in-law
opined, he has a running shoe fetish,
not as bad as some guy he read about
in a running magazine who had about

two hundred pair but, in his case, only
about ten pair. Anyway, while he’s not
the Imelda Marcos of running shoes,
he has to admit that he found this part-

icular pair to be irresistible for reasons
enumerated. He waited with great
anticipation, like a child waiting for
Christmas morning, the arrival of his

Santa Clause, the UPS driver. He
couldn’t wait to open the box. There
they were — beautiful, red and black,
soft mesh uppers (the latest thing in

running shoes) and the thick midsole
euphemistically named so that a soft,
billowy, cushy feeling came to mind.
And then he put them on. They fit beauti-

fully in the forefoot but when he stood
up and started walking around the house
imagining he was prancing and dancing
on the trails like the white-tailed deer

he often would see, the shoes fell flat.
Literally. He felt like an old man trying
desperately to regain the vim and vigor
of yesteryear. He put heel cushions in

them. Still no in comparison to his other
plush, cushy, billowy running shoes. He
wore them for a week. People remarked
how flashy they were especially when

matched with the colorful, wool-blend
running socks he had purchased online
at a great price and then in a moment
of utter resolve he removed the heel

cushions and put the shoes in the trunk
of the car for a trip to the nearly new
store.  In those shoes he just couldn’t
be what he wanted to be again, the lithe,

light, young, youthful runner prancing
along blissfully on the running trails.
“Seriously, dear. Think of it as a don-
ation for the betterment of runners in

need of a flashy, cushy but not very
cushy actually more like a racing flat
running shoe at a really good price,
almost new out of the box.”

Secretary Dr. Ben Carson
called to the dais to

calm the public regarding
the pandemic immediately

coughed into his hand and
then scratched his nose

with the same hand and
waxed religious at a

public event by calling
people back to Godly

prayer. Hopefully, God
will forgive Ben for

breaking the rules of
good, preventive hygiene

practice especially while
he is speaking to a TV

audience perhaps number-
ing millions. Maybe we

millions should just do
as the good doctor says

not as he does. We can start
with the Kyrie —

Lord, Have Mercy

The stentorian (fake) voiced Veep
seeking to reassure the public
(actually not) really seeks to
fawn over the Occupant like
an abused child sidles up
to the abuser. He regularly
uses the word “unprecedented,”
as in “He has shown un-
precedented leadership.”
What the Veep doesn’t say
is that this truly is a un-
precedented experience
brought to us by the Occupant
who has shown
unprecedented ignorance,
unprecedented arrogance,
unprecedented incompetence,
unprecedented hubris,
unprecedented narcissistic malevolence
unprecedented avarice,
unprecedented greed,
unprecedented selfishness,
unprecedented short attention span,
unprecedented mob mentality,
unprecedented cruelty,
unprecedented neurosis,
unprecedented psychosis,
unprecedented delusion,
unprecedented projection.
The bootlicking, bowing, brown-
nosing, cloying, cowering, crawling,
cringing, flattering, ingratiating,
kowtowing, mealy-mouthed, obsequious,
parasitic, scraping, servile, slavish,
sniveling, spineless, submissive, sub-
servient, sycophantic, toadyistic,
unctuous Veep got it right —
unprecedented.

The nasty virus
serves a purpose
beyond its destructive,
voracious ways.

It reminds
us we are
all interconnected
in genetic ways.

We are all equally
vulnerable in
physical, emotional
spiritual ways.

There is one race
with many ethnicities —
differences and similarities
to embrace.

Unfortunately,
from others, we
must distance ourselves
for months, weeks
or hopefully, only
days.

Yeah, good luck with
that. It looks like
we are in it for
the long haul of
months and months,
not days.

We starve without
the hug, the embrace
the kiss each day.

Perhaps the reverend
Eastern bow with
praying hands will
suffice while keeping
each other at bay.

But there will come
a grand and glorious
day.

At a press conference to update
the public on the pandemic, the
Occupant called on CEOs of the
private sector to speak glowingly

and apparently to reassure
people that big business is
on board to keep the American
people safe. The VP then spoke

about how unbelievably fantastic
the Occupant’s leadership has
been and how far ahead of this
pandemic the Occupant has been,

is and will continue to be. And
after all of the VP’s unctuous
pomposity and total kiss-up, the
newly flattered Occupant con-

cluded with words of caution on
personal hygiene after he had
shaken the hands of almost all
of the corporate bigwigs brought

in to shore up an almost completely
disastrous response to the crisis.
At least he didn’t sneeze into his
little hands first.

Some of us always colored
outside the lines and were

punished for it in a system
that didn’t get it. The basics

were necessary but why
wasn’t there room for creat-

ivity beyond the basics?
Thank the Lord, we are old

enough and have survived
the system to build on the

basics (Thank you, teachers.)
and plumb the depths of

our creative lives in visual
art, musical art, literary art

and express the plethora
of creativity lurking inside

each of us and just crying to
get out and find expression.

So what is it with guys
(and the use of the word
guys is too congenial)?
Males? What is it?

Seriously, is it still the
idea of populating the
world with one’s progeny
— spreading one’s

genes around? Hardly.
So, what? Domination
like in “I can make you
do what I want” using

the most basic human
sexual function as a
weapon against females?
Don’t “guys” realize

that they are human,
vulnerable, going to
get old and die? “Let
us learn how few days

we have and so gain
wisdom of heart.” Why
wouldn’t that alone
cause a guy to ask

the question about
one’s contribution to
life and figure out
some way to be con-

structive, helpful,
moral, ethical, com-
passionate, proph-
etic, affirming the

equality of men and
women, respecting
creation, affirming
the wonder of nature,

reveling in the holi-
ness of life, living
self-sacrifical love.
Oh, sorry. That’s Jesus.