By Gary Beck
We think the plague is gone.
We put away our masks,
walk the streets facing others,
not worrying about distance.
We note the shattered stores.
Some will not reopen.
this is not a poverty neighborhood.
so we do not care
that some people have lost
jobs, livelihoods, businesses
that sustained families
now consigned to public databases,
if they’re citizens.
Undocumented aliens
will starve, steal, whatever,
to survive.
All is well for us,
until the plague returns.
Then many will die
because we were too stupid
to take precautions.
Gary Becks‘ fiction and essays have appeared in hundreds of literary magazines and his published books include 28 poetry collections, 11 novels, 3 short story collections, 1 collection of essays and 2 books of plays. Gary Lives in NYC.