Two Poems
Wilda Morris
What I Want
I want to lean in and take a good look
at the toddler in the stroller and the baby
in the carriage, whose parents walk
by my house each day, new neighbors.
I want to invite them over, but we are back
to level two restrictions. No good
mother or father would want me
putting my masked face close
to their little one’s unmasked mouth,
nose, and eyes. And how could I
communicate with my smile covered
in cotton? Even more, I want
to take my own great-grandchildren
in my arms, kiss them on the cheek
and tell them stories before they think
they are too grown up for hugs,
before these long months of separation
make my offspring strangers.
Pandemic Baby
my mother was the baby
who almost died
of the Spanish flu
the toddler who lay
in bed like a squash
in the garden
or a carrot in the vegetable bin
showing no sign of life
fever turning her face tomato-red
heavy breathing occasional whimpers
the need to be changed and fed
now and then though she ate little
the little one whose teen-aged brother
tried day after day
to elicit a smile from her baby face
the brother who had loved how she giggled
when he made faces smiled
when he sang this brother could not bear
to see her nestled day after day in the blankets
like a radish among lettuce leaves,
expressionless unmoving
until one day
this brother came
from the bedroom crying
to report the news the good news
that after all these weeks
when the baby was too weak to sit or stand
weeks when she slumped on the bed
like a potato or pillow
the baby finally smiled again
this baby my mother
lived a long, productive life but thankfully
not quite long enough to be isolated by the next pandemic
Wilda Morris
Wilda Morris, Workshop Chair, Poets and Patrons of Chicago and past President, Illinois State Poetry Society, has published over 650 poems in anthologies, webzines, and print publications. She has won awards for formal and free verse and haiku, including the 2019 Founders’ Award from the National Federation of State Poetry Societies. Her second poetry book, Pequod Poems: Gamming with Moby-Dick was published in 2019. Her poetry blog at wildamorris.blogspot.com features a monthly contest for poets.