Beth A. Fleisher<\/p>\n
Hour 7<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Prompt 7:\u00a0 Write a poem titled Season of the (fill in the blank). The fill in the blank could be a reference, it could be an actual season, it could be something abstract, or concrete, anything you want. The key is to write a poem that matches, or interacts with that title.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Season of the Covid<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Is there any passing of the seasons<\/p>\n
in this crazy world we\u2019re living in?<\/p>\n
It all feels like one homogenous thing.<\/p>\n
Some days. Many days. And yet<\/p>\n
I see<\/p>\n
the Iris buds rise from the leaves<\/p>\n
and then open into lush purple flowers<\/p>\n
with sweet scent of Spring.<\/p>\n
As those blooms fade,<\/p>\n
I see<\/p>\n
my lilac tree is laden with huge ropes<\/p>\n
of little purple flowers with pink centers,<\/p>\n
and I can smell their deep fragrance from my window.<\/p>\n
I see<\/p>\n
the first robin with his red breast.<\/p>\n
And hummingbirds who have been away for a year<\/p>\n
appear at the feeder on my patio to sip nectar.<\/p>\n
I can feel<\/p>\n
the difference in the warmth of the sun on my back<\/p>\n
as spring glides into summer.<\/p>\n
So why do I feel like time is not moving on at all?<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I was talking with my daughter yesterday<\/p>\n
about the State Fair being cancelled,<\/p>\n
along with all of the 4th<\/sup> of July Fireworks,<\/p>\n parades, carnivals, and barbecues.<\/p>\n That was my \u201cAHA!\u201d moment.<\/p>\n I\u2019m realizing that all of the big and little social events<\/p>\n that normally mark the march of time are missing.<\/p>\n No April birthday celebrations with my sons.<\/p>\n No excited preparation for Mother\u2019s Day or Father\u2019s Day.<\/p>\n No burst of freedom when school is out for the summer.<\/p>\n No graduation ceremonies.<\/p>\n No stop to buy Sparklers and Ground Blooming Flowers for the 4th<\/sup> of July.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n It seems that from mid-March until now,<\/p>\n almost the end of June,<\/p>\n we\u2019ve been living in one big, long difficult season:<\/p>\n The Season of the Covid.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Face coverings, social distancing,<\/p>\n shelter at home, be responsible,<\/p>\n protect the elders, don\u2019t go to stores,<\/p>\n wash your hands, disinfect everything,<\/p>\n make PPE, search several towns to find t.p.!<\/p>\n The passing of the seasons has been usurped<\/p>\n by the passing of the Phases.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n I find it\u2019s all too much. Too much to think about,<\/p>\n too much to worry about, too much to take in.<\/p>\n I desperately want my old life back,<\/p>\n when the passing of the seasons meant family time,<\/p>\n going on adventures, planning trips, and celebrations.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n But as I take a deep breath and look out my sliding glass door,<\/p>\n two ducks are happily swimming laps in our closed swimming pool!<\/p>\n I assume they flew in from the more-crowded wildlife refuge,<\/p>\n and as they enjoy this clear blue body of water all to themselves,<\/p>\n the absurdity of it hits me, and I can\u2019t stop smiling.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The season of Covid brings its benefits, too.<\/p>\n The decreased air pollution during the lockdown<\/p>\n meant more oxygen in the air and happier birds,<\/p>\n who fill the air with their joyful thanks.<\/p>\n Families who, on average, had 38 minutes of interaction<\/p>\n per day suddenly are together All.The.Time. and<\/p>\n they are learning to talk to each other again.<\/p>\n And K-12 kids who spent hours in front of video games<\/p>\n in their pre-Covid lives, are now outside, riding bikes,<\/p>\n and inventing the 2020 version of King of the Hill.<\/p>\n Workers have realized they can work from home,<\/p>\n and I\u2019m not sure employers can ever<\/p>\n put that\u00a0Genie back in the bottle\u2026or cubicle.<\/p>\n And we all finally have time to really pay attention<\/p>\n to the news \u2014 and we were horrified and disgusted<\/p>\n as we watched George Floyd murdered before our eyes.<\/p>\n And we have had time to take to the streets and march in protests,<\/p>\n rediscovering that the Power really is with the People.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Season of Covid continues. We can either struggle<\/p>\n against its lessons, or embrace them. Some of us have prayed<\/p>\n for Something to wake people up.<\/p>\n The Season of the Covid definitely has\u00a0done that.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Beth A. Fleisher Hour 7 Prompt 7:\u00a0 Write a poem titled Season of the (fill in the blank). The fill in the blank could be a reference, it could be an actual season, it could be something abstract, or concrete, anything you want. The…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1455,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-67734","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-marathon-poem"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67734","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1455"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67734"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67734\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":78477,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67734\/revisions\/78477"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67734"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67734"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67734"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}