RITES OF THE COVID-19 SPRING

TERRY McCARTY
RITES OF THE COVID-19 SPRING

POEMS MARCH-MAY 2020

TERRY McCARTY
CONTENTS

FOUND CORONAVIRUS POEM

MARCH

RESOLUTE

IT IS WHAT IT ISN’T

A COLD DAY IN AUSTIN

THE BRIEFING GOES ON WITHOUT ME

DONNIE TALK TO SCIENCE

FOUND CORONAVIRUS POEM II

NO RESPONSIBILITY

MAGICAL IMPULSIVENESS

LIKE IT NEVER HAPPENED

PAGE TURNING ON THE RED HIGHWAY

FOUND CORONAVIRUS POEM

(assembled from various articles & social media posts)

shoot from the hip

keep the government narrative

hold down infection numbers

order a day of prayer

maybe it goes away

like a miracle

where science won’t be necessary

afternoon briefing

Oval Office at night

too little in the beginning

now, save the stock market

instead of everyday people

improvisational leader talks of

tests that aren’t there

maybe that will shut them up, he thinks

people may/may not be infected

someone claims this exists

because impeachment failed

it’s like the end of the world

you can’t find anything

people take far more than they need

no sanitizer, no toilet paper,

even stripping Trader Joes

like piranhas devouring prey

accentuate the positive

try not to read too much negative

stay home, don’t dare go out

family and friends become talking pictures

on computer and tablet screens

MARCH

March came in like a lion cub

Ended like a bullet train

Plunging off a washed away bridge

Into a crevice far far below

Some people hear the crash

Smell the rising clouds of smoke

Other people shop at supermarkets

Wearing homemade jackets

With a painting of the too-familiar President

Underneath, there’s a statement:

HATERS GONNA HATE

Some persist in embracing a fool’s worthless words

And remain at one with his every change of mind

Turning heads away from unnecessary deaths

Preventable by foresight and advance preparation

Thinking that coronavirus isn’t nearly as bad

As being a member of the Democratic Party

IT IS WHAT IT ISN’T

president gets hold of tea party bazooka

tweets the word liberate in all caps

encourages insurgent behavior

wants his fans to get out of their houses

cut off pieces of the golden calf

demand a stunted version of normal

death is more than numbers on spreadsheet

much more than a model bent to White House will

it’s family friends neighbors coworkers

doctors nurses online shipping clerks

meat packers ministers actors writers

supermarket checkers and many more

make tests available

find out who has it who does not

don’t make Americans play Russian Roulette

give life a chance

A COLD DAY IN AUSTIN

it’s a gray day in downtown Austin

all the people standing too close together

letting Alex Jones who lied about Sandy Hook

do their thinking for them

allowing themselves to risk their lives

as free extras in an InfoWars infomercial

I don’t remember reading about

people on the home front in World War 2

protesting en masse

about ration cards and blackouts

and being told not to talk about troop movements

they held fast for almost four years

today, we howl like banshees

get the keys to the beach too soon

lust to be free to do harm unto others

after just six weeks

THE BRIEFING GOES ON WITHOUT ME

it’s every day except for holidays

press keeps social distance in tiny room

except when it moves to Rose Garden

president throws pandemic aside

to yell about Us Versus Them

and punish reporters within and without

Anthony and Deborah walk a line

as thin as dental floss

so they can stay in the room

and occasionally talk real science

when not being humiliated

and bent like a Gumby doll

to serve the needs of president and industry

cable pundits complain

network execs say he’s the president

so we have to show his bluster and lies

just like his campaign rallies in 16

please pull your eyeballs from the screen

read about actual facts and figures

make informed decisions

put the black ink blot in correct circle

to end at least some of this nightmare

when we make it to November

DONNIE TALK TO SCIENCE

Loosely inspired by Prince’s “Ronnie Talk To Russia” from

CONTROVERSY.

Donnie talk to science

Don’t worry about the base

And the one percenters

Riding this out in the Hamptons

Pull the un-lockdown ripcord slowly

Stop making fools of Birx and Fauci

Open up your gilded Mar-a-Lago

And your Vegas Strip non-casino hotel

To service workers, homeless

And first responders who need some rest

Put an end to your foolish pride

Make testing available nationwide

Donnie talk to science

Before there’s no one left alive

To talk to you
FOUND CORONAVIRUS POEM II

(from various book titles)

Is This The Real Life?

Primer Of The Obsolete

Awake In The Dark

Theater Of Memory

Men, Women, And Ghosts

Different Hours

Dreams Gone Mad With Hope

NO RESPONSIBILITY

let that President riff

like a fifth-grader convinced

he can play cornet like Louis Armstrong

even though said fifth-grader

doesn’t look at a music book

can’t make his mouth form an embouchure

blows out a bunch of flat, air-filled notes

he wasn’t being sarcastic when he mused about

UV rays and bleach maybe doing for human insides

what they do for stovetops, tables and other surfaces

and then he realizes, lies and waves it away

and an until-now renowned scientist

follows him almost scarf-deep into the Big Muddy

complaining about how that mean old press

takes a what-if remark and chews on it like gum

for at least two news cycles

to the staff, to the attorneys worrying

about copycat behavior and poisonings,

and especially to the press and TV cameras,

the President says I take no responsibility

even though he was elected to the highest office

which requires a lot of responsibilities—

such as don’t kill your voters

if you’re intent on being re-elected

to riff again and again

without regard for consequences

MAGICAL IMPULSIVENESS

literal minded people

see the president saying no to masks

leader of the free world displays revulsion

like spayed/neutered cats and dogs

wearing Elizabethan collars

masks tossed to pavement

laid on top of trash and recycle bins

people squeeze through discount stores

jam into mountain resort swimming pools

acting as if they’re in THE MUSIC MAN

thinking they’re using Professor Hill’s think system

if we don’t wear masks

and we stand four inches instead of six feet apart

and if everyone else we see does this,

we’ll play our instruments perfectly

and no disease will ever bother us

in our blissful oblivious state

of magical impulsive recklessness

LIKE IT NEVER HAPPENED

The jackhammer pounding

Of government, industry, media

Repeat the same propaganda:

Get back to normal

Go back to work

Drive down to the beach or the lake

Get your hair cut

Your nails done

Perhaps a tattoo afterwards

Make the phased reopenings

Happen like a half-speed bullet train

We haven’t licked this disease yet

Hell, there’s no vaccine until maybe next year

People may fill hospital beds again

But by all means, reclaim normal

Ready or not, we’ll tempt you to

Go back to the mall, hang out, shop

We might put up warning signs

But we’re not the mask police

Be normal again

But don’t blame us when you get sick

PAGE TURNING ON THE RED HIGHWAY

every state is opening

most counties are wriggling free

businesses want to operate mostly unfettered

beaches look like they usually do

>

Trump turns the page faster than Obama did with George W.

stomp that accelerator and turn your head from dead/dying

make sure the flags at half-staff happen on Memorial Day weekend

when the president doesn’t have to answer for mistakes made,

powers unused, reluctance to lead by example,

and, of course, no face coverage except in private

only grudgingly because president can only defer so much

>

in an alternative timeline,

government develops plans for action

saves lives in nursing homes and non-Caucasian communities

takes the necessary time to develop effective vaccines

>

alternate president paraphrases JFK

says we do not do this because it is easy,

we fight this disease because it is right