Overread at Table 3: A Dream in the Days of Social Separation

A Dream in the Days of Social Separation

I dream,
but I keep waking up to the world
we now live in.

A world of cautious stares
at the grocery stores,
because we now all have cooties,

cooties that kill,
icky cooties, don't touch them!
Elbow bumps only, and only

for close friends and family,
(even if them), some
of the Trumpistas, no touch!

The dripping bile of
poisonous tongues might spittle
hit our skull, burn through

into our brains, like
acid from the double mouth
of the Alien,

it is hard to know what is
the more deadly,
the virus that cannot be seen,

or the racism that has been
exposed, naked, running
rampant and free like wildfire

across the deforested landscape
of what used to be
purple mountains majesty.

We now have met our neighbors,
but we trust them even less.
Strange how we lived

comfortably together when we
didn't know each other's names.
America, so long in isolation,

is so ill-prepared for social
separation.



MR
2020-0301

Overheard at Table 1: Oh Rona!

Working on a love song to Rona.
Think of late 1950s doo-wop a-capella.

The Oh! Rona, only vaguely resembles Oh Donna! by Richie Valens

Slow, lilting, longing ... as though this girl is killing you ...

Oh, Rona
OHHH, Rona
You take my breath ... away.
Oh, Rona
OHHH, Rona
Rona don't you stayyyyy-ayyyy
Please go away.

Oh, Rona
OHHH, Rona
No cure for your ... disease
Oh, Rona
OHHH, Rona
Got no immuni-teeee!
Rona, leave me be!

[bridge]
You give me fever.
You give me chills.
Rona you ain't leavin'
Feels like you never will.
You make my heart stop!
You steal my breath!
You're stepping out with everyone!
You are the kiss of death!

Oh, Rona
OHHH, Rona
You got me on ... my knees
Oh, Rona
OHHH, Rona
I'm beggin' Jesus, please ...
don't take my family.

oooooooohhhhhh, yeahhhhhhhh!




MR
2020-0330

Overheard at Booth 2: Social Isolation

... and they have us all working remotely, the whole team, and then one of us, Toni, she emailed the group to say that she'd been running a fever, and just wanted us to know that she thinks she caught it after they'd sent us all to work from home but that she couldn't get tested, and then some of the others were chatting about it on a separate chat and one of them mentioned, and I thought to myself, oh my GOD, that's so mean, but also so true, that they thought even if she DID have Corona before they sent us all home, that none of us could have caught it from her anyway, because she's always in social isolation at work.  Like, no one wants to get within six feet of her!

Overheard at Booth 1: Suddenly Everyone's at the Park

"One thing about Corona is that everyone is now enjoying the park.  I know it's terrible to say, but there is an upside to all this.  Yesterday when I was taking my early evening stroll, it suddenly hit me that there are tons more people there than usual, guys playing football on the small hill, kids playing frisbee with their dogs, families even having their dinner as a picnic.

"And I wondered, why hadn't these people been here before?  Is it just that they are tired of being cooped up in the house all day during the quarantine?

"And so I thought, you know, maybe it's because we are worked too hard.  This was about 6:15.  At this time, most people in this city would still be stuck in traffic, heading home from jobs that they got to at 7 in the morning.  11-12 hour days, with 2-3 hours extra jammed in traffic - most of these people just get home too damn exhausted to do anything but eat food they picked up on the way, watch some tv, go to bed.

"But everyone here was having more time for their kids, more time for their pets, more time for each other ... there is beauty in the midst of the madness.  There is hope in the middle of disease, and there is life that blossoms and shines, even during the times when we are all covered by the shadow of death."

Overheard at Table 2: Teens at the Park

As the wife and I were walking through the park yesterday, we passed a group of three teen girls, and I kid you not, as we passed them, I heard one say, "Is that your 'I'm better than you' face?   I only know because I wear one all the time.  Because I am."

When we got out of earshot, I told the wife about it, to see if she had heard it to.  She said that she had not.  "But it's lucky for her that I didn't!" the wife said.

Overheard at Booth 3: COVID in the Cages

- First, it starts off with an electronica beat ... bump bump bump bump, and then there is a little alternating rhythm... bum bum bum BUMBUM bum bum, bum bum bum BUMBUM bum bum,

then the lyrics start off with short, sharp, words like:

Dilley
Karnes
On all the human farms
No water
No soap
No safety and no hope

we got
COVID in the caaaaaaaaa-gggesssss!

... at that part the synths explode:  brrrrr-WWHHHHRRRRRR!!!

COVID in the caaaaaaaaa-gggesssss!

... and then back to the beat

Never
to see
It won't be shown on your tv
Migrants
alone
Suffocating so far away from home

then the chorus again: COVID IN THE CAAAAAA-GGGESSS!!

.. so, what do you think?


- What have you been listening to?


- Innerpartysystem's "American Trash."  Why?


- Just askin.

Overheard at Table 2: Black Panther (2018)

1: Aw, Black Panther man, Black Panther, y'know Killmonger had the right idea.

2: How could he have the right idea?  Killmonger was an American who wanted to impose colonial American culture on an African nation.

1: He was all about rejecting America and getting back to his roots.  Remember when he said that his ancestors were the ones who jumped overboard on the slave ships?

2: Yeah, but that completely ignores one fact.  Fact - if they jumped over the sides of the ships and drowned themselves, they probably did so BEFORE they could have kids.  Most of these guys had their children when they GOT to America... there wasn't no time to be havin' babies on the ship.

1: You never know - those ships were packed.  Lots of people, packed together.

2: It wasn't no romantic CRUISE, cuz!

1: All I'm sayin' is that people find a way.

2: Sure.  Fine.  Like, I'm gonna impregnate you, but then I'm gonna throw myself overboard and DROWN so I won't be taken to the American Colonies to be a slave.

1: You never know.  You were not there.







https://www.rmg.co.uk/discover/behind-the-scenes/blog/dying-their-own-terms-suicides-aboard-slave-ships