Social Isolation: Day 11

After a hurricane

            if there was no power

my parents’ yard would fill up

with friends and friends of friends

and they would grill

the contents of the old freezer,

size of a car and full

of the thawing seafood

Harley pulled out of the Gulf.

Every disaster was a chance to

            take in strays

            play Hearts

            eat shrimp

            retell the Air Force jokes

we never got.

There we were at 30,000 feet

They aren’t around now

            to take us in.

two burnin’ and two churnin’

            and we aren’t supposed to eat anything

   not sprayed, washed, and overheated

I turned to the crew chief and said  

What the hell? Over.

            but I turn to them

to remember how to be a human

Beats the hell out of me. I’m not the regular crew chief

and to share the things you can.

Over.

S. Robbins   March 28, 2020