Valediction Forbidding Mourning Alright

ULF KIRCHDORFER

April 29, 2020

Johne Donne, you would be the perfect poster boy
for COVID-19 education, bestow upon you a hash
tag, your poem with the compass conceit so perfect
to tell people that when they stay the hell away
from each other, there is always one leg of the compass
the other can eventually return to. Of course someone
would have to make a video that is fun so people can turn
to poetry for comfort; your dull sublunary lovers I am afraid
exist more and more, not only when it comes to reading poetry
but to do anything born from contemplation and compassion.
Soon the people who have never heard of Auden’s “poetry
makes nothing happen” will return to the stores and elbow
each other to pick up a loaf of Wonder Bread like glue
to go with hot dogs made from meat scraps at the plant
where now shielded men clear their throats cutting chicken.

ULF KIRCHDORFER is a poet and photographer looking forward to moving back to Texas. Current projects in production are a book of bird photographs, with poetry written by a co-author, and a poetry book with the working title of “Hamlet Gets a Puppy.” Before the COVID-19 pandemic Ulf enjoyed swimming four times a week.