vaccine

Sun on Sunday

(x = space)

Sun on Sunday

It’s dim outside

And raining

I hear wet tires

A gloomy day

I do not mind

The Addams genes at play,

I suppose,

The kind that make

A lark of dark days

I’m a day into

The new shot

Feels like the flu shot

And every vaccine that

I’ve had since

Childhood

The site is sore

I don’t mean to comment

I want to respect

The courtesies of others

That are challenged

Only in

Contagious situations,

Where they make

The issues grim

Like guns, I guess

We know what we know

And I might be wrong

But let’s not make it politics

But practicalities

There is an epidemic

I’ve lost people to it,

Which gives me added rights

To nothing

But my sadness

C L Couch

Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash

February 28, 2021 1

Weather Permitting

(x = space)

Weather Permitting

(in pandemic time)

The texts say

I have a doctor’s appointment

Tomorrow

A fedora of adventure,

Anymore

I’ll go,

If the car is working well

Enough (been turning

rough, lately)

And should there be snow

Or rain or ice,

I’ll go as carefully as I can

If the street is clear enough

And the car isn’t

Covered over

Too much

You see, the second

Winter skyfall

Of the season is

Predicted later today

Tonight

Into the morning hours

Say I get there

I’ll need marching orders

For masking, distancing

Simply to go inside

Then there’s the reason

Hopefully, I’ll have

A list

I’m hoping, really,

That we’re meeting

Over vaccines

C L Couch

Photo by Jason Jarrach on Unsplash

January 25, 2021 2

2 poems about the snow

2 poems about the snow that’s on its way

(and now is falling)

Happy Weather People

The sky is full

Nothing surprising there

It should be snowing soon

I don’t like where

The car is parked,

Though I suppose anywhere

Along the street

It’s going to be plowed against

When the trucks with the

Big blades go by

Records will be broken,

So they say;

The forecasters actually are

Excited on the TV screen

With big maps projected behind

Them—well, sure things

Probably don’t

Come their way so often,

Lucky them

For now

New Testament

(December, MidAtlantic USA)

Yes, it’s cold

For now, I’m not worried

Should I lose the electricity,

I might die

But I’m inside

Not everyone gets to be

And some are inside hospitals

Too many, in fact

Because the disease

Is moving toward a spike, again

There is a better message

Still to be sworn in

And better methods in the offing

We’ll all get our shots,

Eventually

And deal with side effects

The chart will have point

And then slide down

The other side

At least, that’s the plan

Many people

Even when silenced

Or at least shouted down

Have worked on this

And we need

To trust their skill,

Attested by the numbers

Going down

And we can say

This was

Our generation’s 1918 influenza

To count

To bury

And to weep

C L Couch

Photo by Andrew Ridley on Unsplash

Cairngorms National Park, Ballater, United Kingdom

National Park, Ballater, United Kingdom

Pile of Leaves

December 16, 2020 2

Vaccines

Vaccines
(a polio center bombed in
Pakistan, because of
serving)

I lived in the cities where
Salk and Sabin worked
Which does not matter
As much as the reality of
Vaccines

Diphtheria, polio, small
Pox, and malaria;
Millions—millions—died
From Spanish Flu in
The last (twentieth)
Century

These diseases are now
Resolved and most are gone
With vaccines and other
Helps except for those
Ravages that were not
Cured except through time,
For we hadn’t means to
Cure

We still look at this
Challenge, though it
Seems we’re getting
Better

I don’t know how those
Against vaccination really
Feel, maybe because I’ve
Only experienced the
Good

I’ve had mild symptoms
Of that for which I’ve
Been given shots—that’s
In the nature of vaccines—but
I’ve not suffered fully from
Diseases or conditions
Against which I’m
Protected

Now, due to a condition (not
Vaccine-related), I’m toward
The top of the list of those
Who should receive flu
Shots

Any reservations
Notwithstanding, I get the
Shot

Those who refuse risk
Infecting others, though
I respect the hesitation
If I cannot ally the
Principle

Yet those who turn down
And those who protest this
Medical opportunity are
Not bombing doctors’ offices
Or clinics where these
Serve

Though, I must say, that in
This free land, some
Take issues to extremes
To destroy clinics of
Another medical kind thus
Surrender being human in
Becoming the extreme and little
More

But on a day in Pakistan
I’ve read further in the news
About

Bombing a polio clinic
Addressing a disease that
Can be veritably
Eradicated

If this terroristic vision
(An irony of shots)
Could be realized, then there
Would be outbreaks of laming
And of crippling infection
Without recourse except
The best (the worst) of
Luck

When we can cure, we
Are at our best;
What can be said for
Those who hunt down
All those who can and
Now must more bravely
Cure

January 15, 2016 3