No Way
We walk in place,
pace a fiction we place
upon ourselves. No collective
intended here, intentions
of isolation our recourse
when we have everywhere to go
and nowhere to accept us,
except as carriers of contagion,
contained out of necessity.
This poem is inspired by (Poet Girl Em) Emily’s Way.
Although she has been posting less often, Em always provides thought provoking poetry.
As one of the last states to do so, Missouri’s governor finally issued a statewide stay-at-home order, yesterday. Our city and county have been “stay-at-home” for more than a week, with “limited gatherings” in place before that. The governor had hesitated to issue a statewide order, instead relying on localities to better gauge the needs of their communities. An example of how well that was working could be found around Lake of the Ozarks, a resort area in mid-Missouri, where cities waited until 4 days ago to limit gatherings to no more than 10 people.
Today is Day 4 of National/Global Poetry Writing Month.
While this poem is off-prompt, but I’m sharing it at napowrimo.net.
Image source: morguefile.com
rivrvlogr 
Excellent, Ken!
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Thank you. 🙂
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Great multi-use of place – may our individual hopes be contagious through poetry (so far as I know there is no hours/days duration on the viability of poetry – keep spreading it!)
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Thanks.
Contagious poetry. I like it.
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My sister lives in Springfield. Enough said. Your poem is great. Stay well.
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Thanks, Claudia. Except for groceries, yard work, and a walk in a conservation area, it’s been an indoor week.
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I feel the same way. Trying to be outside when possible and I really look forward to lawn mowing this year.
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I can see out my window every day that even regulations and thousands of deaths are not enough to convince some people… (k)
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Go figure.
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Where I am in Australia we have had ‘stay at home’ for quite a few weeks. It is boring but seems to be working.
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The US needs better nationwide coordination.
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