By nature I am vigilant.
These days, I watch everyone with extra care:
the clerks in the coöp, the pharmacy, the feedstore
where we buy food for the dog and cats and birds,
my friends. Oh, I trust my friends, but—
the friends of my friends?
Where have they been?
How can they do me harm?
This morning, walking the dog
on the sidewalk in town, pulling
my mask up whenever I saw someone coming
a block away, I found myself tired
of myself. We’re all just trying to get by,
doing what we can, what we think is right.
And what malevolence do I carry,
what contagion is concealed behind my mask?
I think many of us feel this way these days. But we don’t have the ability to express it so well.