COVID-19 Blues - Kathy Figueroa

I’m trying to recalibrate my thinking
To lose this COVID-19 frame of mind
The weather’s finally getting warmer
And verdant signs of spring aren’t hard to find

It’s been a long, pandemic-plagued winter
With an overabundance of sad news
As a result, it’s accurate to say
I developed the COVID-19 blues

Kathy Figueroa


Image : Pixabay - Leo2014

Vaccine Queue - Stephen A. Roberts

A year on now from the first onslaught
By the invisible enemy that can’t be fought
By normal means or clapping hands
Or sealing ourselves from other lands
Sometimes it seemed like no progress was made
We were digging for victory with a broken spade
Perhaps though now we will defy the odds
The fickle will of random evil gods
With science now turned to beneficial use
Our hope lies in the vaccination queues

Stephen A. Roberts

Besieged - Richard Fleming

In this small house of ours we pray
that we and those we love remain
safe from the beast that prowls without,
its fetid breath ripe with decay
Some think it dumb. The truth is plain,
it hungers for us without doubt.

Some swear the beast does not exist:
they say that it is harmless, tame,
half make-believe, not dangerous,
a toothless creature, they insist, 
and we who fear it should feel shame
for our unnecessary fuss.

But hid behind our shuttered panes
we tell ourselves, beware, take care,
and wonder what might happen next.
The beast is monarch now, it reigns:
its pestilence roams here and there
one moment, then elsewhere the next.

Richard Fleming

Image : Thomas Woolworth Art Collections

Non Discrimination - Diane Scantlebury

A virus knows no boundaries
It doesn’t recognize colour or race,
It cares not for wealth or status
A lethal enemy without a face,
A virus has simple requirements
To infiltrate, infect, replicate,
It has no respect for gender or age
It doesn’t discriminate,
Some think they’re invincible
They’ll distort and bend the rules,
They’ll gamble with the lives of others
They are chancers and inconsiderate fools,
In a crisis some thrive on hindsight
Always seeking someone else to blame,
They’re the reckless and the idiots
A virus can’t distinguish,
And will treat them all the same!

Diane Scantlebury

Self-Isolating - Tony Gardner

I've been stuck inside for five days straight
It's so flipping irritating
I'm not allowed outside my gate
I'm self-Isolating.
The dog is not a happy boy
He finds it so frustrating
He's chewed the head off every toy
Since we've been Isolating.
He misses all the exercise
Sits by the door just waiting
He cannot seem to understand
Why we're self-Isolating
The missus doesn't seem to mind
She is so placating
When we get wound up and enraged
Through self-Isolating
Suppose we shouldn't feel this way
But 'til this starts abating
For all our sakes we must put up
With flipping Isolating.

Tony Gardne

In Memory of Dr. Li Wenliang - Kathy Figueroa

In memory of a good doctor in China
Who, about the new virus, sounded an alarm
He was aware that people were becoming ill
And wanted to inform folks, to save them from harm

December 30th, he posted a message
Using the Chinese messaging service, “WeChat”
Which riled local Communist Chinese overlords
Authoritarians who didn’t stand for that

Days later, he was called to the police station
And “reprimanded for spreading rumours online”
Forced to say he’d committed an “unlawful act”
And threatened with “detainment,” rather than a fine

He had to go back to work at the hospital
And on January 10th caught the dire disease
The brave doctor’s condition worsened steadily
To a state not even critical care could ease

Over twenty-eight thousand folks are now sickened
Because the courageous doctor’s words weren’t heeded
And the government didn’t advise the public
About health precautions that were sorely needed

Exponentially, the tragic death toll rises
From this virulent and mysterious new flu
Today, Wuhan, China, news is even sadder
For now good Dr. Li Wenliang has died, too

Kathy Figueroa

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

Viral News (2019-nCoV) - Stephen A. Roberts

The bible was right, vegans too
Eating some meat is really bad for you
Draw the line at pork, and especially bats
It’s wrong to stir fry those flying rats

It seems they used to wash them down
With cups of rice-wine in old Wuhan town
For culinary reasons that still remain vague
It’s now unleashed a vampire plague

Like that creature it would not stay there
And restless, hungry it came by air
The same insatiable need for blood
Too late now to nip it in the bud

The world is waiting, the world is scared
Is this the judgement we all feared
Or will the scientists manage to make
An anti-viral wooden stake?

Stephen A. Roberts

China’s Virus - Kathy Figueroa

China’s birthed another virus
A lot of people will be killed
Now it’s reached North America
Only drug companies are thrilled

It’ll thin the population
Decimate it in short order
Too bad we don’t have quarantines
Or a way to close the border

So many people are now sick
The frail and elderly will die
The government should act …and quick!
Why it hasn’t, we wonder why

Oh China, fount of strange disease
This export is one we don’t crave
Use caution not to spread it, please
Don’t send foreign folks to their grave

Kathy Figueroa