Nothing is new or normal since COVID.

Now we walk closer, start to shed

the masks that hid our smiles or smirks.

Nothing is new or normal since 2020.

Everything has gone haywire –

people hating and hurting – hurling insults

into the atmosphere.  Now we walk closer

but we are farther apart than ever before.

And for what good reasons?

Inflation?  Poverty?  Climate changes?  Unemployment?

Nothing is new or normal since right now.

We whirl like the wind, flitter and flutter in anger

or bliss – the choice must be made.

It is harder now, harder than ever to feel secure.

To feel safe and sure of the new normal,

which changes like a kaleidoscope.