COVID-19 Poems
By Ram Krishna Singh, India
Punitive
corona virus–
lépreuse
some say it’s invasion
the barbarian without
quarantined
I clear my throat
behind the face mask
breathe in unknown viruses
suffer new repressions
now lockdown
cut off life:
castration
Hugo said monasticism
resisting death
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- NAW RUZ IN LOCKDOWN
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The sun and cool breeze
betray no virus:
the house arrest sickens
the fear kills the spring
this Naw Ruz alters
the meaning of life
buried in years that gibe
political follies
fanatic ambitions
and culture of suicide
they call evolution
progress, peace, unity
ruining harmony
in nature’s home fuel
no re-creation
but perpetual death
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- NEW GODS
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Meditation–
future uncertainties
beyond crisis
new strains, new virus
villains of the new order
peeking from windows
create new mantras
for life to continue
envision no gods
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- BEFORE THE MIRROR
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Stand naked
before the mirror
see changes
from top to toe
a tragic tale:
loosened muscles
stretch marks on the knees
vericose veins
and a long journey
from eyes to anus
itching, bleeding
swelling, aching and
degenerating
with fears in restroom
bedroom, car, airplane
the virus haunts
from tummy to temple
issues have me
coming and going
yoga or no yoga
it’s not ageing
but undying sensations
feelings I peel
to stay synced with energies
that play not with one but two
to define love
rescue the self and other
make room for truth
far from the fetishes
in the maze of mad pursuits
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- UNLOCKDOWN-I
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The deity may hear
or not hear the loud praise
and silent sighs
the temple dust is not free
from the virus in the air
devotees carry
without God’s wish suffer
sins not committed:
quarantined in hospital
alone for fourteen days
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- UNLOCKDOWN-II
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Women and children
crossing the flooded huts
with aluminum
cooking pots, plastic cans
and remains of provisions
seek shelter on trees
none know when these too will
collapse and drift down the stream
like the living space
with men in underwear
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- SIX TANKA
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in the air
I expected romance–
corona:
avoid her kiss
and breathing too
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ridicule
their exploring gaze
veiled women
with colors, patterns
and seismic movement
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covid-19
reading the astral transit
ceaseless lockdown
over sanitized hands
playing “Stairways to Heaven”
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voiceless friends
in aloneness of the room
unread books
human’s unseen plenum
my sympathetic nerves
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the rivers
decayed into sewers
revive in lockdown:
no plastic bottles, no bags
and fishes swim near the banks
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my vests couldn’t dry
on the clothesline today
the rain’s music
turns different from the sun’s
I hear the hum in my hair
–Ram Krishna Singh