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May 2, 2020

The Quarantine Chronicles, Day 18

DAY 18: Searching hysterically for
the right meditation app
or youtube video to practice mind-
fullness
in these still quiet times in the eye
of the raging storm, world on
fire, sky tornadoing down fatal
germs, best books, recipes (I've
tried), funny cat videos and
slogans about getting sick
celebrities who don't count 
celebrating their own existence with
applause for doctors and nurses
who can't hear,
press conferences, online teaching
ordering groceries, cancelling plans
not telling loved ones they're loved
imagining them being taken away
by the army, never to be seen
again, goodbye, I love you
when they can't, hooked up to
machines, fingers crossed
and a hearse with the motor
running out the back door
that knows the way to the
crematorium, cigarette
smoking driver thinking about
his mother, a beer with his
friends, nausea of TV
home, a shower, a soft bed
a wife and kids or not --
while the smoke rises and begins
to swirl.