Six Feet Apart

When they tell the story of these times,
will they say that our universe was two thousand feet square,
that walking to the mailbox was an event to be anticipated,
that we measured our days from meal to meal--
or worse yet-- by the TV schedule.

Will they note that we worried about shortages
and doctors' visits, and family visits, and
not knowing if or when this all would end?
Might they document supermarkets' empty shelves,
and how we learned to Zoom?

Can fashion mavens explain
how masks and gloves and
disinfectant wipes became important accessories,
and suits and ties and Sunday clothes
surrendered to sweatpants and t-shirts?

Will they wonder how we felt
as we watched our savings
swallowed whole by failing markets--
or how we raged at TV news
and wept at strangers' lonely funerals?

How will they picture isolation?
Will they display an array of canvases,
lined in lonely rows,
each a separate world,
set six feet apart?