The World on Pause

Maybe we all just need to take a pause
breathe only our own air for a change
tend to our own gardens
 
Spray people-and-pet-safe “Go Away”
protect the tulips
nosing out of the ground
 
Hear only our own thoughts
or the crinkling in the wind
last winter’s papery leaves
surprisingly loud
when the whole world has stopped
 
Maybe we need to unroll our yoga mats
become more limber
bend with the lotus of change
ever-unfurling around us
 
Let go of the non-essentials
those cravings
relationships
we’re better off without
 
Surrender the control
we never really had
those best laid plans
that often go awry
 
Reflect on the environmental impact
of our consumption of toilet paper
 
Maybe we should all play music from our balconies
Sing show tunes, play cello suites over Twitter 
 
Forest bathe in the woods
just us and the kids
Run through the aquarium
just us and the penguins

Make more than one pie on Pi day
homemade nachos with all the fixins
 
Maybe we should stand in the middle of time
just being
not doing
 
Turn off alarms
finish dreams
 
Peer through the telescope
at the pockmarked moon
Zoom in and out of bubbles
on the CoronaVirus Map
 
See how small
how united of a world
we really are 
 

(I am grateful to Headline Poetry & Press for originally publishing this on March 31, 2020.)

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