SOS

LYMAN GRANT

April 28, 2020

Someone reported the bodies

Piled in the freezer

At the old folks’ home,

And a mayor was fined

For violating his own city’s

Stay in place order

To purchase a six-pack

Of chilled imported beer

At the convenience store.

We are all finding it hard

To live with ourselves.

Like vampires we avoid daylight

And mirrors. I don’t know

How many nights I can hide

From Netflix. Where I live

Winter has not released its grip,

And each morning I struggle

To pull back each finger

From around my throat.

I am hoarding something

And I don’t know what it is.

It is piling up in my coldest

Regions. I am reporting myself,

Now, before there’s a crime

I cannot explain.  Come,

Come quickly, and maybe

Bring us both a couple of beers.

LYMAN GRANT is the author of several volumes of poems.  His most recent 2018: Found Poems and Weather Reports was published this spring by Alamo Bay Press.