Mourning # 15
What would you say if we met
in the ICU, or at a funeral or wake
in a parking lot, masked up and
distanced, I only see your eyes
and your body under your clothes
if you were attracted too, equal, 50/50
the ideal match – let’s have sex
have you had a swab or the vaccine?
have you tested negative in the last 14 days?
have you been exposed to anyone
who has COVID even with no symptoms?
do you now or have you ever had
the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2)
you know, I think I’ll wait
for sex love attraction touch anything
until this all is all over if ever
like Ken and Barbie dolls
more valuable
in the original plastic-
wrapped cardboard boxes.
---- Holly Figueroa O’Reilly writes today:
My husband has been feeling poorly
for a few days and decided to go in
to be tested for COVID-19. Instead,
we just found out that he has AML:
acute myeloid leukemia. Or I should say,
‘he’ found out. Alone. They won’t let me
visit him. Because of COVID-19.
You probably don’t know my husband
and for that, I am truly sorry that you haven’t
met the best man I’ve ever known. This is
a guy who opted to work with COVID-19
patients in the ICU instead of tele-health
because he couldn’t just sit by and watch.
For months, he spent 12+ hour days in the
ICU taking care of COVID19 patients.
He left his practice (he’s a sleep medicine
specialist) in order to volunteer in the ICU
because they were short-staffed. He watched
people die without their families.
He held iPads up so families could say
goodbye to dying COVID19 patients and watch
their family members take their last breaths. He
stripped off his scrubs in the garage and showered
before coming up to see his family at night,
if anyone was still awake.
I could go on and on about how amazing
he is, but I’m completely broken. Please spare
a thought for my hubs tonight. He went from
thinking he might have COVID to getting a bone
marrow biopsy, chemotherapy, and a minimum
4-6 week hospital stay within the course of a few
hours.