Here Now

From Pandemic, a printed journal of pandemic poems by Oregon writers, published by The Oregon Poetry Association in 2020.

Here Now

“If you are here,” the sign says

“You are where you need to be.”

Odd, I muse, what makes them think they have the right to judge?

And as I look around at empty streets and spaces

And other streets fill with a thousand unfed desires

I judge this might be a strange place for me to stay

Well, I’ll jump right in, I decide

That has always been my way

Though this is a place I did not think could be

Not for us a bang

Not for us a whimper

Just a simple playing out of time and wasted dreams

But there is work to be done

There is a world to rebuild

We’ve nothing more pressing in our datebooks – let’s get to it

Imagine spaces filled with beauty

Think of promises fulfilled

Celebrate the broken systems as first faltering steps

Use the only bricks that matter

Every joy-filled human heart

And mortar them together with fairness and with love

Allow for style to flourish

In a myriad of ways

No one design should bring us to the next creative end

From where I stand it’s simple

Though there are broken things down every byway

I am here, where endings turn to hopes

I am here, where I need to be