Elise Skidmore

They say there’s lots to keep us busy during our quarantines as we wait out Covid-19. We are not used to days of isolation on end, and while technology does much to keep us connected, social distancing is hard and often leaves us feeling lost and unfocused. This afternoon, I sat down and forced myself to work on the scraps of poems of been keeping in my head for days now. These three poems are what came out.

  
 Human Touch
 
 
 Arms wrapped  
 around myself,
 a pretend hug. I miss  
 the human touch--I need contact
 with you
 
 

 
 Dreaming Awake
 
 
 My attention span  
 is short these days,
 An understatement
 if ever there was one.
 I try to focus
 on what's in front of me:
 the work at hand,
 the book I'm listening to,
 the movie playing on TV.
 The constant bombardment
 of the world's pestilence
 steals my concentration,
 leaving me empty
 and searching for a peace
 I've only found  
 on a tropical beach,
 gazing at azure ocean
 as it kisses white sand
 while seabirds dance
 across a cerulean sky.
 They sing, “Come play with me.”
 I close my eyes
 and try to go with them,
 but I am still here,
 surrounded by the chaos.
 I bow my head  
 and pray for the rapture  
 to take me there again,
 so I can let the weight of the world
 roll off with the tide.
 
 

 Conversations in the Bardo
 
 
 “She's not come for a long time.
 I hope she's all right.”
 
 
 “She's probably just busy.  
 She has a life, you know.”
 
 
 “She seemed so sad the last time she visited.
 Remember how she wept?
 I thought she gotten past that long ago.”
 
 
 “You know some days are harder than others.
 I'm sure she'll visit soon.”
 
 
 “I heard someone mention a pandemic.
 Thousands dying all over the world.
 Oh, I pray she is all right!”
 
 
 “Don't worry so, my dear.
 I'm sure she's safe and sound.
 We'd know if the worst had happened.
 She'd be here with us.”
 
 

~Elise Skidmore ©2020