In Courtship with the Turtle Pond Below My Window

Unpublished

Though upwind from the downwind comfort of home
These sails nonetheless took flight over the Pacific Ocean
Into the arms of Phoenix, Arizona from Mexico
The stillness unbearable as the plane landed
On the runway standing anxious in the aisle
Glaring into the eyes of a white man refusing
To wear a mask, while breathing down my neck

Now here I wait in one more long straight line
Outside Menards standing six feet apart from each other
With security guards in uniforms with masks on
Making sure that we do the same before entering

Talking with those working inside, led to the slaughter
For the price of minimum wage, hourly paid
To serve the privileged, as I, to go shopping
For essential items to hold us over

Birdseed for the chipmunks and squirrels
To eat beside the still waters in my backyard
Pond for meditation filled with Koi and Sunfish
Now eaten by raccoons rising out of the sewers
That feed the Mississippi River rushing to the Delta

“How are you doing?” I ask. “Not good.” She replies,
“I’m bored but have no choice. Need to pay the bills.”
While stacking toilet paper, towels and hand sanitizers
Onto the shelf with barely enough oxygen to breath
Through masks, “I’m dealing with micro aggression.
I’m ready to explode.” A worker on a forklift exclaims.

As am I, while pushing a cart filled with river rock, grass seed
Compost and black dirt to my car to load into the trunk
With enough work to pull me through two more weeks
Sequestered in the backyard of my home before heading south
Down Highway 61 into the Driftless springs of Cabela’s
Where ammunition is being sold by the caseload

“The Chinese are coming!” One shopper exclaims, “If not they,
It will be those Democrats who will take my guns away.”

Once upon a time there were places I could run to and hide
Now those places seem to be no more, except for
That sacred place within my heart and mind, where portals of
Starlight dance across the skies of heaven and earth
Through meteor showers of raindrops splashing on frogs croaking
In courtship beneath the turtle pond below my window.

By Larry Long
May 5, 2020

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