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.

From Gaetz to Gohmert to Graham,
McCarthy to McConnell,
Nunez to Numb-nuts himself —
Put them all in quarantine.
At least it’s not a
border cage so very obscene.

The wave crashed against the shore;
the fallen tree limbs rotted on the soggy ground;
the wind beat against pine branches;
the sleet gathered and thrashed the earth;
on the side of a sandhill, a blue-bulbed crocus persisted.

Well, Dippity Do, 
     you do 
          what you 
know you need to do 
     in order to get through 
          and confirm your 
allegiance 
     to the philosophy 
          of enlightened
self-interest, 
     in spite of 
          the fact that we 
should all do things
     for altruistic, 
          at least,
and, preferably, 
     really compassionate
          reasons. 
That having been said,
     you, Dippity Do, in order 
          for you 
to do 
     to get through, 
          you 
have to come clean.
     Yes, when the 
          recent widow 
reached out,
     you got offended and mean, 
          when she wrote 
that in a photo of 
     you and your new 
          Chocolate Lab
you looked “precious.”
     It was the “precious” 
          thing, which you bristled to, 
and, so, you, 
     after one too many glasses 
          of wine, shot off 
a really snitty e-mail whine,
     which has resulted 
          in her being hurt 
beyond belief and
     you being a complete 
          jerk. So, what to do
in order for 
     you to get through?
          Make amends, ask 
for forgiveness, 
     change your behavior 
          and learn how to spell
“expiation.”
     Marianne Williamson
          agrees. 

The sea continued
To give the sand shore what for.
Folks asked, “How much more?”