The Practice of Relativity
Beatriz Seelaender
We are consistent and suspended
and against every expectation there is very little fun in it.
(…)
We sit and wonder and feel empty,
dwell on quarantine hair,
refresh websites waiting for them to change our lives,
rewatch sitcoms and get headaches,
accomplish thoughts, treat prolific ear infections on dogs.
My dog is rocking a V-neck:
it’s cold still but winter is almost over.
And we constantly need a shower
to fight off the virus and the inertia.
(…)
I miss people, in an abstract sense. But
my immediate impulses are unchanged.
A whole year
bent, to be folded over and
over till we can only see
it under a microscope. Meanwhile,
I hope this ditty finds you well. Are
you and your loved ones in good health? Wherever
did that go? Was it here a year ago? Did
it crawl into the walls? Or hide inside a coat-pocket? Was
there anything before this? Will there ever be an after? Can
there be a before and after
once time is exposed as a sham?
After before was here and now,
This is the before and after.
(…)
Winter is here again
It’s been cold ever since people have been slowing down
Ear infection controlled, unlike the unmanageable hair,
furniture moved as if sofas could channel despair,
websites are changing our lives by not changing a thing
One of them says it’s ten months till I get a vaccine.