through fertile soil
as many struggle to breathe
birdsong punctuates
early morning stillness
echoing through empty streets
Daily strolls leave
disquieting wake of distance
greetings hailed from afar.
Uncertainty spreads faster than
understanding
Necessities stockpile
greed and need sharply
divided
rooftops and balconies are
prime real estate as
open spaces close.
Nature’s rituals continue
uninterrupted; flickers return to
hammer on metal chimney caps
advertising for a mate.
Tulips bloom
forsythias sprout
pansies shimmy in the breeze.
Invisible enemy finds
faces peering from masks
anxious souls
resisting society
Healers are hailed
celebrated from windows
in the streets; fed, applauded, serenaded.
Families reacquaint while others mourn
separately in grief.
Life settles into the mundane
Earthworms reemerge below warming soil
as unattended loved ones
are lowered beneath.
Author Bio:
Susan Surette is an avid traveler, bibliophile, grandmother, hand drummer, yogi and poet with work published in The Avocet, Westward Quarterly, Nine Muses Poetry, Eskimo Pie and The Curlew. She discovered her interest in poetry after taking a free creative writing class and joining a women’s haiku group. Susan founded the Not Yet Dead Poets Society and leads the “Poetry for the Creative Mind” program at a local adult center, both located on Cape Cod, Massachusetts.