America, your turn to enter the fray!
Beach-goers frolic in Florida even as,
Corona virus closes schools and churches.
Distancing and disinfecting are everyday parlance.
Emergency (as in “state of…”), even national!
Flattening the curve by staying home;
Global news foresees our future.
Homeland security and hand sanitizer 
Inflict daily reminders, though some
Just blame China or Italy or the homeless.
Knowledge of the virus seems slim, elusive;
Life-saving treatments may not be there 
Medical history is important; masks may help.
NBA is canceled; sports not happening
Over-reacting, some complain, though they stockpile supplies.
Pandemic now, our COVID 19. No public health system in
Queer-resistant, capitalistic USA.
Recession looming experts say
Stuck at home, nowhere to roam, we chafe.
Throat sore for several days…bad sign; 
U.S. Customs and Border Patrol enforcing travel ban.
Ventilators in short supply, vaccine may be a year away-
Wuhan re-infecting. Thank God for WHO.
Xmas will come for most of us, but perhaps not for you.
Yield to caution and wear your mask like
Zorro on a mission!
                        

Today, despite the tsunami of virus news,
I drive down our street of dogwoods blossoming 
into our town sprayed with scarlet azaleas, weeping wisteria
and gold leaving trees. Nature is intent on being reborn
as I contemplate dying.

			When the universe collapses, not from a meteor,
			but a tiny dimpled ball studded with golf tees
			that blossom red rosette triangles to invade our lungs
			paralyzing segments into stone…we are there.

Visitors today, people I love. We sit on the porch far apart,
a bottle of sanitizer between us, a reminder of our fragile age.
A birth day for one (but we wonder, a death day hastening?).
The hunger to be together propels us to these moments of joy.

The news is dreadful.  From Europe, from Asia, now US.
Not flattening, the curve (more predictive than Tiresias).
Recession spiraling into Depression tornadoes over the charts
and figures.  A negligence, a punishment, a comeuppance?

			Does the earth conspire to defeat us?
			Can the microbe, like the serpent, 
			expunge us from Eden?