Social Distance

JERRY BRADLEY

March 24, 2020

Turtle-wise commissioners are demanding

that we stay inside and seal our houses

as we watch the markets tumble. Easy enough:

there is no place now to spend money

and no way to make it.

So we electronically tip our hats

and drink to each other’s health

until there’s nothing left in the glass.

And when there’s no one left to write to,

we’ll keep pouring until

there’s nothing left in the bottle.

Who are we kidding? We know in truth

how this turns out. What we’re saving for is one

of those expensive funeral parlor haircuts.

Outside the bluebonnets are already rioting.

JERRY BRADLEY, a member of the Texas Institute of Letters, is University Professor of English and the Leland Best Distinguished Faculty Fellow at Lamar University. He is the author of 8 books and has published in New England Review, Modern Poetry Studies, Poetry Magazine, and Southern Humanities Review. He lives in Beaumont, Texas.