Coronavirus Time - Some Poems

Some friends liked this first poem, and asked if I'd written any others during this challenging time, and so I'm throwing these out into cyberspace.  I'd be interested in comments, particularly critical.  (All poems © Peter Goodman 2020.)






    WHAT IS LOST

where butterflies fluttered last week,
tattered blue petals still cling.
On a park bench in Rome,
where old men loudly enjoyed
familiar arguments each day,
an old man sits alone.  An alleycat
saunters to the worn pewter bowl
among the flowers
and finds it dry.  When he looks up,
no old woman waves from the window.

These times
are just like always
but more so.

The boy pets his dog, worried.  Mom says
dogs can’t get the virus, but he heard on TV
some tiger named Boris got sick in London.
Grandma comes out of her bed room,
her TV still on, and asks him,
“What is it
they’re all so exercised about?” 
He thinks she’s testing him
as she used to drill him
on his time tables (“multiplication
tables!” she insisted, her eyes
drilling into him),
but the next morning
she asks the same question,
calling him by his father’s name.

The nurse, exhausted, steps
into an empty storeroom, for a moment.
Silence. 
She rests her head against a cabinet.
In an old war movie, she thinks,
she’d have a cigarette,
even in a hospital.  Her head
spins from all the dying, the tears,
people gasping for breath, their fears.
Four more hours tonight, then sleep –
fitful sleep, dreams of screams
and pleading faces she can’t save.

Soon after dawn
in their garden,
the old man with his coffee
and the old woman with her tea
hold hands.

                                                                          [-26 April]


These others are in the order I'd written them:

         DISTANCES

the birds, undisciplined,
play together in the fruit trees.
the outlaw breeze
keeps touching our faces,   
the dog races
well within six feet,
offering neck and ears,
promising these surfaces
are perfectly safe.

this morning the Senator said,
 “This is a once-in-a-lifetime
event,” but we know more
viruses lurk in animals,
waiting their chance – and nations
experiment with bio-attacks.
i asked.  he readily agreed, said,
“constant preparedness is essential.”

perhaps
this will be life. 
Will we remember hugs, and the crowds
at baseball games, as our forebears
recalled the dreams and waltzes           
of 1913 – or as “Indians”
recalled 1491?

meanwhile, dolphins and swans
return to Venice canals, and
ducks play in Rome’s fountains.
and, for a moment, we all
slow down, learn solitude.
maybe we long
for community, enough
– finally – to all get along.

a friend calls.  walking
into town, he hopes perhaps
we can meet for coffee
on some park bench.  

                                                                   [--19 March]


    FLATTENING THE CURVE   

at least our poems,
gloved, masked, but hardly antiseptic,
can venture out,
and mingle, shy speculations dancing
with rude portraits, Rodin’s lovers
buying chocolates
from Joe’s gloved goldfinch,
false answers vigorously scrubbed
from earnest questions, young and old.

alone out there, they take on
lives of their own, rent
furnished rooms, pursue
intense discussions under
bare light bulbs thick with buzzing
flies and foolish moths, as indifferent
to us (dead or isolated
or watching spring roll in
onto Maine’s rocky coast)
as we to Victorian ancestors
whose names we never learned.
   
                                                                        [-24March]  [If this needs explanation, our regular twice-a-month Thursday evening poetry workshops ceased, for the moment, and we tried sending each other some poems by email.]


     SHELTERED IN PLACE

to be marooned
on some internal island
buffeted by the winds
of death and uncertainty?
  
it is always so.  like a mountain
masked by mists today,
sun-bathed tomorrow.

death
is our shadow,
invisible
on cloudy days.

can I see clearly
what’s right
before me, and is
nothing
like what’s before me,
knowing
i know nothing?

                                                                            [-7April]



    L’S ADVOCATE

or is
“pandemic” nature’s way
to prune and clean?
Look at the riot of new growth
where we pruned that fig!
Think of the ten-year flood
sweeping down Little Bear
Canyon, clearing away
old trees, garbage, campsites
to make way for the new.
When science cheats nature
by prolonging weakened lives,
Nature replies.  But would I shrug
and wave goodbye, smiling
as it washed me away next week?

                                                                [early April]  [This was written before 14 April, but I'm not sure when.  It remained untitled, just starting with "or is." until I came up with one just now.  The L, of course, refers to Lucifer; but I'm still not happy with the title.]

the dog sits watching
streets without cars, skateboarders,
cats, folks walking dogs.


                                                        [- 16April]

Dona Ana County Commission Shouldn't Adopt Republican Resolution Pressing for Premature Relaxation of Health Orders

I oppose the Republican draft resolution (introduced in several counties) pushing New Mexico to reopen small businesses prematurely.

I agree thoroughly with the resolution’s “WHEREAS, small businesses have long been recognized as the backbone of New Mexico’s economy.” I’d strengthen it to, “WHEREAS, small businesses are the lifeblood of both our economy and our community.” 

 

But I’d also insert: “WHEREAS, facing a pandemic, by quickly imposing unpleasant but necessary restrictions on citizens and businesses alike, the Governor of New Mexico, local government entities in Doña Ana County, and the citizens of this county have managed to minimize the incidence of the virus here and saved some unknown number of lives.” 

 

One proposed “WHEREAS” notes that “the modeling of the spread of COVID-19 has changed multiple times,” usually decreasing the expected death toll. Modeling changes because this is a novel coronavirus, and we keep learning more; scientists aren’t ideologues, but adjust thinking to reflect events; and we’ve instituted stringent health orders that are intended to diminish the death toll. 

 

If we were paddling around in a piranha-filled river, safely staying in the boat, would we conclude after 20 minutes without injury that the danger was a bunch of partisan nonsense – and take a swim?

This should not be a partisan issue. Several Republican governors have acted to protect their populations. But Mr. Trump sees everything solely in terms of how it can make him wealthier or more popular. 

 

I’m no scientist – and even scientists don’t know exactly what’s next. I do have some ideas where to look for answers: to well-respected and sensible-sounding doctors like Anthony Fauci and our own David Scrase, and to other epidemiologists. Not to Steve Pearce, with his long history of bringing counterfeit “experts” to congressional hearings. Nor to Trump, who keeps pushing an unproven and dangerous drug in which he has a financial interest – and fired an experienced federal doctor for trying to test and evaluate that drug like any other. 

 

Maybe look to folks evaluating evidence and making decisions they themselves don’t like. One exception to the rule against hearsay trial testimony is an “admission against interest.” (If you haven’t gone outdoors yet today, who’re you going to listen to: the umbrella salesperson who says it’s raining cats and dogs – or the one who says it isn’t?) No politician wants to make the hard decisions many governors, from both political parties, have made this spring. Every President wants to make the economy hum like a BMW – and tell you it is when it isn’t.

In Wednesday’s long [virtual] press conference, Gov. Lujan-Grisham and two cabinet members discussed these issues and took questions. At some point I realized how glad I was that I was not watching Steve Pearce hold a Trumpish press conference. Elections have consequences. Last fall’s gubernatorial election, frankly, saved some number of New Mexicans’ lives. Yeah, most who’d have died are old or unwell; but someone loves each of ‘em. 

 

Gov. Lujan-Grisham and Dr. Scrase cited a lot of facts and sources, expressed their terribly mixed feelings about what they’re having to do, and sounded open to new ideas. By contrast, the petty politicians who introduced this resolution pressuring the Governor are clearly seeking small-business owners’ votes, without offering evidence or substantively helping small-business. (More promising is the idea of using interest from the county’s “hospital account” to offer real help.)

Let’s stay the course until reliable scientific evidence suggests otherwise.

                                                    – 30 --

[The above column appeared this morning, Sunday, 26 April, 2020, in the Las Cruces Sun-News, as well as on the newspaper's website the newspaper's website and on KRWG's website.  A radio commentary version will air during the week on both KRWG and KTAL, 101.5 FM (www.lccommunityradio.org) and will be available on demand at KRWG's site.]

[As of Sunday, the resolution proposed by Commissioner Isabella Solis has been modified extensively to conform better with the facts and with local citizens' desire at this point to "reopen" in a way that still prioritizes safety.  The Commission is scheduled to vote Tuesday morning, and citizens can attend the meeting (though that's discouraged) or comment by emailing or calling your county commissioner, or all the county commissioners.]

[A New York Times piece Friday was headed "New Mexico showed how a state can fight the coronavirus with aggressive social distancing, free testing and scientific expertise. But contagion threats are building."  It noted that we have "fewer hospital beds per capita than nearly every other state, . . . a rapidly aging population and widespread poverty . . . [and widespread] underlying medical conditions that are widespread in New Mexico that heighten the risk of dying from Covid-19, [yet] for the moment, at least — with a coronavirus death rate that is lower than neighboring states like Colorado and Oklahoma."]

 [Meanwhile, it's delightful that, just weeks after Dr. Fauci embarrassedly responded (to a TV interviewer's question as to who should play him in the movie) that if someone had to do it, how about Brad Pitt -- Brad Pitt played him in last night's Saturday Night Live -- a three-minute bit three-minute bit that's worth a listen.]

Will Listening to Scientists about Science Become a Habit?

Will this crisis reawaken us to an important fact we’ve recently lost sight of: that while science is inherently imperfect, scientific study, experimentation, and analysis best illuminate our present and our future?

Recently we’re seeing these odd daily rituals, in which sober, reasonable doctors like Anthony Fauci and Deborah Birx make careful, fact-based statements, while delicately stepping around the pronouncements of our Narcissist-in-Chief. Mr. Trump abandoned a security unit devoted to protecting us from pandemics and biological attacks; belittled the pandemic’s significance for weeks, even months we could have used mustering resources to confront the virus; repeatedly undermines the guidelines he finally promulgated, keeps promoting an unproven “cure” with dangerous side-effects (in which he has some financial interest); and met the Wall Street Journal’s criticism of him by pointing to his “ratings.” (A televised rape or murder would get great ratings too, but that wouldn’t make it acceptable.)

Will the contrast between the doctors and the politicians linger in minds?

If a majority of citizens recognize the gulf between scientific knowledge and political slogans, and realize that when a virus threatens them and their vulnerable friends and family, they listen to the docs, will they apply that lesson to other important issues?

It’s ironic that while we’ve mustered this economically painful full-court press to fight the pandemic, we remain unprepared to take even half-measures to confront climate-change / global weirdness, which threatens to take more lives (over a longer time) and devastate our economy more permanently.

There too, the science is pretty clear, although, as with this novel virus, we don’t know everything. The facts remain politically inconvenient. Too many Republicans Congresspersons (except those from coastal Florida or other areas where the climate changes are already significant) steadfastly deny the science and ignore the dangers because facing them might cost money and maybe votes. 

Science isn’t God. That’s why science proceeds by experiments and studies. But certain facts do appear true: that certain substances are harmful to human health and our environment, for example. We can reasonably argue about the benefits/harms of GMO’s; but mercury in our rivers, plastic in our oceans, sugar and trans fats in our food, tobacco in our lungs, and oil byproducts in our water wells are obviously not helpful. Yet “political” decisions erode our protections against those things. 

Will recognizing the lies of politicians and corporate advertisers in one area revive a bit of our old frontier cynicism and remind us that there’s a reason judges and scientific journals insist on facts, backed with more facts? Will Trump, by performing a grotesque exaggeration of political denial of reality, undermine Republicans’ or politicians’ credibility generally?

No. This is what I hope, not what I expect. More likely we’ll descend further into partisan bickering, rooting so passionately for “our side” that truth is an empty candy wrapper getting trampled in the grandstands. That although disgust with Trump will likely unseat him in November, establishment politicians in both parties will shy away from seriously addressing climate change because, well, gee, uhh, we’ve just absorbed such an economic hit, we can’t tackle that too. At best, the government will undo some of Trump’s more poisonous actions regarding our environment, food, and water; and maybe the virus will have taught us we need a more equitable health system open to all, as some other countries have. 

A guy can hope, can’t he? And we can try!

                                             - 30 -- 

[The above column appeared this morning, Sunday, 19 April 2020, in the Las Cruces Sun-News, as well as on the newspaper's website the Sun-News's website and on KRWG's website.  A spoken version will air during the week on KRWG and on KTAL, 101.5 FM (www.lccommunityradio.org), and will be available to on demand  at KRWG's website.]

 [btw, people keep asking me whether any of the folks from that gathering discussed in last week's column accepted my invitation to call me on radio to discuss their views.  Answer is [unsurprisingly] no.  Or, "not yet."  They have another chance Wednesday, although we'll be talking about County Clerk Democratic primary from 8-9 and then talking with Lieutenant-Governor Howie Morales from 9:20 until perhaps the close of the show.  "Speak Up, Las Cruces!"] on KTAL -- (575) 426-5825 (526-KTAL).

[particularly liked this comment received from a friend regarding the above Sun-News column:

Thanks for the excellent article on our current fad of deliberate ignorance.  My grandma lived her 80 years in a hollow in the Blue Ridge mountains and farmed 26 years after grandpa died.  She repeatedly used a basic philosophy of respecting the “balance of nature”.  Although she was a backwoods Baptist she respected nature and her farm was “fruitful” every year.

My favorite science is Ecology because it approaches the world the way grandma did.  The earth has a wealth of wisdom to help us if we’re smart enough to “look and see” that everything is connected to everything else!

Our billionaires have no respect for either their fellow creatures or the planet that sustains us and their political snake oil whores simply go for the fast buck.

Science and nature be damned, grab that money and leave all the damage repair to the non billionaires! ]

[I would say nothing about the photo above, except that it's an excuse to thank our artist friend, Georgina Feltha,   The shadow is not of a passing hawk, but of a bird at the top of a neat sculpture of hers.  The pumpkin-looking things on the bench had caught my eye before, in the late-afternoon light, but yesterday my wife had moved the sculpture a bit, unintentionally creating this odd combination that suggests a mam bird and her eggs -- in some parallel universe that required Georgina, my wife, and I to collaborate unintentionally.
The second photo, of the hummingbird at the penstemon, I just happened to take this morning a few minutes after reading my friend's comment on nature and ecology.]

Welcome to Las Cruces -- at Safe Distance

Photo from Las Cruces Sun-News

The photo shows thirty-some people standing very close together in front of a “Welcome to Las Cruces!” sign, mocking the New Mexico Health Order that bans large groups and urges physical distancing. 

Why? 

 

Is this a generalized middle-finger toward society? O.K., that’s a familiar feeling. Is it an aggressive display of contempt for timidity in the face of danger? Yeah, I’ve done that, a bunch of ways. And was lucky to survive.

I see the ATVs. Are you saying you’re wild, untamed? Great! I was dirt-biking this terrain in 1972. (Damn, but Bill Moore, 6’ 4” former Aggie Final Four player, was a beautiful dirt-biker!) And, yeah, for my taste, four-wheelers tear up too much of our fragile desert without the wonderful rush of hurtling along far too fast on two wheels.

I can only guess. If you’re in that picture, I hope you call in to our radio show and tell us directly how you feel.

How I feel is, I don’t particularly fear the virus. I’m old, but healthy. I’d likely survive, but I’d sure prefer not to put my wife and myself through that. 

 

But a friend of 50 years has chronic health problems that make him extremely vulnerable. We buy vegetables from a couple who live with a newborn and a 90-year-old veteran. What if I carelessly got infected, transmitted COVID-19 to our radio producer, and her 94-year-old father died out on his farm? 

 

Odds are you have an aging parent or grandparent, or a pal with diabetes. Someone high-risk matters to you. 

 

So why’d you join that crowd giving the finger to our Governor’s order? 

 

You skeptical? Think it’s all a hoax? NBA player Rudy Gobert jokingly touched microphones then got COVID-19 and passed it on to his star teammate. Boris Johnson belittled the virus, then found himself in intensive care. (Yeah, Boris, even rich guys in expensive suits can have these cooties.) You think the Italian death toll of 18,000 is made up, like the Holocaust or climate-change? Or those people all died because they’re wops? Or what?

Whom do you listen to? Donald Trump, who lies 77.23% of the times he opens his mouth? Fox News? Infowars? No one, because you know best?

Were some of you trying to impress your friends, ‘cause they’d tease you or look down on you if you didn’t act all arrogant about this. We’ve all had moments like that, done dumb things to impress people who weren’t always worth impressing, but mostly we grow out of that.

Those friends shouting loudest to gather might be the most terrified people you know. So frightened of the disease that they have to deny its reality (and their fear) as loud as they can.

 

My conscience (a.k.a., wife) says this rant is hypocritical. Yeah, I’m trying; I hardly see anyone, wash my hands constantly, and wear a mask. But when I was photographing poppies last week, a stranger offered to take my picture and I spaced out and handed him my camera. Oops! I shop little, but when I bring home groceries I don’t clean the packages the way doctors on You-Tube recommend. Although this column targets the folks in that photo, I – and anyone reading this – should look inward, before pointing fingers. 

 

But, seriously, if you’re in that photo, please call me on KTAL, 101.5 FM, Wednesday morning 8-9. 526-KTAL. We want to hear your side. From a safe distance.

                                                               – 30 --

[The above column appeared this morning, Sunday, 12 April 2020, in the Las Cruces Sun-News, as well as on the newspaper's website and KRWG's website.  A spoken version will air during the week on both KRWG and KTAL, 101.5 FM (www.lccommunityradio.org) and will be available on demand at KRWG's site.  I specified 8-9 Wednesday for a call from someone in the photo, because our two-hour "Speak Up, Las Cruces!" (8-10 a.m.) already has the 9-10 hour scheduled, as we'll also be talking with candidates for Dona Ana County Treasurer; but we'd also happily accept a call during our 9-9:30 a.m. "Cruces Coronavirus Update" on KTAL.]

Las Cruces rolls out the yellow carpet for spring visitors . . .

[I mention the radio show.  While Las Cruces Community Radio (KTAL -- 101.5 FM) is pretty much closed to visitors, and the Board has suggested most hosts do their shows remotely or re-air earlier shows for awhile, we have added special "Cruces Coronavirus Updates" at 9 a.m. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.  They run from 9-9:30 -- or longer in special cases -- and cover a lot of information.  Wednesdays, when we have done our regular "Speak Up Las Cruces!" show from 8 to 10 a.m. since the station went on air, the update is part of our regular show, and in fact we've been discussing coronavirus and the reaction to it almost the whole time.  Starting this coming Wednesday, that'll be  mixed with primary election fora.  This Wednesday we'll still talk about coronavirus (and the reaction, including New Mexico primary voting -- the NM Supreme Court is expected to decide Tuesday that lawsuit over going to mail-in ballots.  (The state Republican Party opposes it.  Most County Clerks, Democrat and Republican, favor it, and I expect we'll have Amanda Lopex Askin, Dona Ana County Clerk, on the line Wednesday.)  We'll do the "update" on important state and local news on the virus, including the latest numbers on its spread and what local governments are doing, from 9 to 9:15, but then talk with the two candidates for the Democratic nomination for County Treasurer.  (I hope someone in that photograph will call between 8 and 9.  Again, 526-LTA:  526 5825.)  Before the primary, we'll talk with the candidates in each contested race, Democratic or Republican.]
[It's hard not to fill a column and more with all the ways Mr. Trump and his "Administration" have screwed us up.  It's particularly ironic that he is screaming about the effect on our economy when a more reasonable early response by him would have mitigated the effects of the pandemic on human beings and on the economy.  But it's important to remember that he's just the rather grotesque face of what has been done to our country.   Experts have stated flatly for many years that a pandemic was a matter more of "when?" than "if."  Obama even put in a special unit in the national security apparatus to guarantee a quick and sensible response.  (We are not even seeing, yet, the kind of bio-attack for which that group was also meant to prepare.)  
For decades, sparked by the Koch-Brothers-inspired Tea Party, non-military "discretionary spending" of our government has dropped.  Not only Trump but many Republicans and some Democrats have participated in funding decisions that hurt the National Institute of Health and other aspects of our ability to respond to this problem.  So we were weakened.  Then Trump ignored repeated warnings that this thing would devastate the U.S.  He initially made fun of it and accused Democrats of exaggerating the problem for political reasons.   Although he eventually agreed to national "recommendations" that many states (fortunately including New Mexico) had already put into place, he watered them down, initially kind of mocked them, and has been visibly jumping up and down (like a kid who has to go to the bathroom) "Re-opening the Economy."
The choice -- or really, the relative weight given to -- saving as many lives as we can or saving as many jobs, small businesses, and corporate profits as we can -- is a fair subject for discussion.  However, I'd hope we keep in mind in November that the damage could have been far less (as in other countries that did what we should have done); and, I'd wish (and here's an upcoming column, perhaps) that the discussion could be more honest.   We should not pretend that prematurely opening the economy will cost lives; but whether we should limit the economic damage to our society at the cost of letting the virus and crowded hospitals prune away those of us with particular vulnerability and some bad luck, is a discussion we should have honestly. I would tend to take a strong position on the issue; but I'd like to see it framed honestly, if coldly.]

"What Did You Do in the War, Daddy?"

Crises show us who we are.

Many local people are doing good. Cruces Creatives is making masks, as are Alice Davenport (Moonbow) and Tony Palumbo (Medicare Options). Russell Allen (Allen Theaters) is paying his pandemic-idled employees. Bernie Digman (Milagro Coffee) takes bagels to hungry people. (One recipient requested “blueberry if you come this way again.” Bernie replied, “Blueberry it shall be, my good man, blueberry it shall be.” ) I’ve seen folks buy extra sandwiches to give to folks who need them. 

 

Amy Whipple, a Las Cruces in-home caregiver and substitute teacher, has built a community cupboard in her front yard, to help neighbors in need. Anyone can take and/or leave an item. Jeremiah Richardson has organized meal deliveries from local restaurants, to feed the elderly. 

 

A Las Crucen I’ve known all her life is a nurse in Baltimore. She’s taken on a tough assignment, working 12-hour shifts with COVID-19 patients, four days on, four days off. She didn’t have to sign up; but she lives alone, is young and healthy, and will strictly follow all recommended precautions; and if someone has to get the virus, she says she’s a better candidate than most. 

 

Our City is freeing up funds for emergency uses including meals and other suddenly urgent needs. 

 

Our Governor jumped in earlier than most leaders to take some tough actions that weren’t entirely popular. She started shutting down the state March 11. when many others were still stumbling around – and while Trump was saying Democrats were exaggerating the pandemic for political purposes. Maybe her health-care background helped. Florida’s freshman Republican Governor refused to issue a statewide lockdown order until April 2.

We can’t all be heroes, or make tough decisions on behalf of a state or city.

But we can be our best. This crisis will test us all, in various ways, and whatever grades our performances deserve, they are ours.

Many of us are faced with disquieting aloneness. Only we can determine whether it’s depressing loneliness or peaceful solitude.

Nothing will expose relationship flaws quicker than forced time together when most everyone is anxious. It’s no surprise that China has reports an uptick in divorces since its lockdown. Here, LCPD, DASO, and La Casa are fielding more than the usual numbers of calls regarding spousal abuse and child abuse. 

 

Let’s give each other a break. Your partner’s behavior and your feelings about that behavior are partially reactions to a strain neither of you caused.

Children will wear the scars of this period longer than anyone. How do we – just when we feel least patient and most confused – help minimize the negative impact of this crisis on our kids?

A recent study concluded the strongest factor influencing a working person’s happiness is whether or not s/he feels useful and respected at work. Now many people are out of work. That hurts not only our wallets but our confidence that we matter.

Talk to your kids about what’s happening. Tell them the truth, phrased to suit their understanding and experience. 

 

Use this unexpected time together to really BE together. Is there a skill you’ve always wanted to teach your child? A book you know s/he’d love? 

 

It’s tough, particularly if you’ve been laid off and wondering how you’ll pay the rent; but taking out your anxiety on family won’t get the rent paid.

Our kids won’t ask “What did you do in the crisis?” They’ll know.

                                                   – 30 --

[The above column appeared this morning, Sunday, 5 April 2020, in the Las Cruces Sun-News, as well as on the newspaper's website and KRWG's website.  A radio commentary version will air during the week both on KRWG and on KTAL, 101.5 FM (Las Cruces Community Radio), and will be available on-demand on KRWG's website. ] 
 [btw, here's a news story from NM Political Report on rising numbers of domestic abuse calls around the state: 2020/04/05/domestic-violence--reports-of-abuse-are-on-the-rise.]