we live here now // 6.2022

Written a year and a half after for those who sit on the sidelines, this piece describes what has changed - and remained the same - since.

outside
the world
is alive -
it no longer
deals with
the nuisance
of the dead
of the disabled
of the infected
the ill
it continues
to turn
on energy
from the
denial
of guilt

and those
of us
still living
and in
need of
assistance
are forever
reminded
of our
at-will
existence

we sat
in our
homes
watching
from behind
our screens
knowing
all along
reality
was not
as it
was made
to seem

and for
this knowledge
we paid a price -
the
sidelines
were
institutionalized

now our homes
comprise the
darkened house
in the theater
of the absurd -
i can attest
there is no
applause
at the end
of the world

we are the
keepers of
silence
and
secondhand
clothes
we are the
discarded
props in
social media
shows
we are not
the vulnerable -
we are the
exposed,
puppets on
strings tied
with bows

here is
how
i know
there are
two separate
plays -
i can
tell by
the time
the actors
stayed off
the stage

we are
in intermission,
captive between
Act I and
today;
they are
in transmission,
committed to
reviving the
Great Plague
of Marseilles

you pressed
pause and
passed us
in time -
living
while we
just try
to survive

again
from
the
sidelines

again
left
behind

again
left
to
manage
as
temperatures
rise

never
understanding
the desire
to act
from the script
of a show
that leaves
the audience
eternally
Waiting for
Godot

wade, courtney, 2023, we are not the vulnerable - but the exposed, digital, poster.