The Quarantine Chronicles, Day 72

DAY 72: In 72 days our doorbell

has rung 4 times

I jumped every time

not recognizing

the sound.

I heard the beep-beep

garbage truck backing up

in the night -- that's new too.

yesterday I spun my arms

over my head and they cracked

like kindling twigs going into

a campfire,

a hypnotizing campfire dying

down after all the stories are told

stories of truth stranger than

fiction -- of the 2020 plague

when everything changed.

dirty kids in the mountains

cutting up, teasing, keeping

it light -- if you need to cry

walk away into the blackness

but come back to hear the

punchline about the gone

old man using a Depends

for a face mask walking

down the beach screaming

at spring breakers, screaming

a warning into the breakers

drowned out by the crash

drowned, later, in another

way -- silly chump.