Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Plague Poems

@plaguepoems.bsky.social

6.7K followers 20 following 2.3K posts

A record of the plague years. Z”L. https://librarianshipwreck.wordpress.com/plague-poems/

librarianshipwreck.wordpress.com

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Pinned

Plague Poems @plaguepoems.bsky.social · 15h

In this moment
are we still plagued
by an actual plague?
Yes, in this moment
we are still plagued
by an actual plague.
Though unfortunately
in this moment
an actual plague
is not the only thing
that plagues us.

*

The 291st week of plague poems…
librarianshipwreck.wordpress.com/2025/10/09/p...

Plague Poems – The Two-Hundred-and-Ninety-First Week

I asked a lawyer about the list of extremism indicators and he said: worry, but don’t worry too much these won’t stand up in court. And then I asked a historian about the list of extrem…

librarianshipwreck.wordpress.com

7 42

Plague Poems @plaguepoems.bsky.social · 11h

On the occasion
of the old punk
becoming an even older punk
I called to wish them well,
and when I asked
how they maintained
their youthful energy
(even after all these years)
the old punk replied:
anger, bitterness,
and an undying belief
that a better world
is worth fighting for.

28 93

Plague Poems @plaguepoems.bsky.social · 13h

The meeting began
with an icebreaker:
“which of your skills
would be most useful
if you found yourself
sent back in time
to the Middle Ages?”
and as I looked around
at all the unmasked faces
I was tempted to say:
I know how to
avoid the plague,
but instead I just said:
I can knit.

2 20 98

Plague Poems @plaguepoems.bsky.social · 15h

Plague Poems – The Two-Hundred-and-Ninety-First Week

I asked a lawyer about the list of extremism indicators and he said: worry, but don’t worry too much these won’t stand up in court. And then I asked a historian about the list of extrem…

librarianshipwreck.wordpress.com

7 42

Plague Poems @plaguepoems.bsky.social · 16h

I saw a recent headline
which announced
“Mask mandates return
in parts of the Bay Area
as virus season nears,”
and while I suppose
the return
of precautionary measures
is a good thing
I can’t help but think
that at this point
every season is virus season.

10 56

Plague Poems @plaguepoems.bsky.social · 17h

As he came up next to me
in the hardware store
the burly man
took one look at my mask
and asked:
“dealing with concrete dust?”
and though I was not,
I simply said, “yeah,”
so the next time you are asked
why you are masking
just tell them that you
are dealing with concrete dust.

1 7 66

Plague Poems @plaguepoems.bsky.social · 1d

When I was young
I thought I’d help
this world
by writing novels.

But I grew up,
and when I was older
I thought I’d help
this world
by educating others.

But I grew up,
and now, even older
I think I don’t know
how to help this world
so I’ll wear a mask
until I figure that out.

3 19 87

Plague Poems @plaguepoems.bsky.social · 1d

It can be difficult
to keep up
with the terminology
used by young people,
so please know:
when you hear young people
say that they and their friends
have caught “the throat virus,”
they are just describing
the same virus
that their elders
also refuse to admit is Covid.

1 21 96

Plague Poems @plaguepoems.bsky.social · 1d

According to a new study
conducted in a hospital
“Airborne SARS-CoV-2
may transmit infection
after more than 4 hours,”
so the question
you must ask yourself
is not if you are in a hospital,
but if you are somewhere
that someone was exhaling
SARS-CoV-2
in the last 4 or 5 hours.

1 37 110

Plague Poems @plaguepoems.bsky.social · 1d

I called him to wish him well
on his birthday
and as we talked he said:
“we’re getting old,
but this year
this year I really felt it,”
and though I wanted to say
“what you’re feeling
is that you’ve had Covid six times”
it was his birthday
so I just said;
yeah, we’re getting old.

11 81

Plague Poems @plaguepoems.bsky.social · 2d

With every new variant
with every new wave
there are warnings
of which new symptoms
you need to watch for,
and yet
with every new variant
with every new wave
the main symptom
you need to watch for
is everyone around you
insisting that they
just have a weird cold.

1 42 140

Plague Poems @plaguepoems.bsky.social · 2d

I know, I know,
of course, I know,
that in these dark times
there is too much bad news
to keep track of it all,
but amidst all that bad news
you should know
a new study has found
“SARS-CoV-2 infection
heightens the risk
of developing HPV-related
carcinoma in situ and cancer.”

17 58

Plague Poems @plaguepoems.bsky.social · 2d

When worried
my friend who has read
too much critical theory
always quotes the line:
“The only thing
that goes against my pessimism
is the fact that we
still carry on thinking today,”
so I sent him an article
about AI use, and he replied:
some of us
still carry on thinking today.

1 8 37

Plague Poems @plaguepoems.bsky.social · 2d

My colleague
who has committed herself
to not getting sick
has noticed I am rarely ill
and so she asked me
what my secret is,
and as I adjusted my mask
I told her
that I have no secret,
and after staring at me
she narrowed her eyes
and said:
I bet you meditate, is that it?

5 20 95

Plague Poems @plaguepoems.bsky.social · 3d

My friend
the optimist insists
that at core
most people
are basically
good.

My friend
the pessimist insists
that at core
most people
are basically
bad.

I worry,
my friends,
that at core
most people
are basically
unwilling to be inconvenienced.

3 38 130

Plague Poems @plaguepoems.bsky.social · 3d

As we waited
for the meeting to start
my work-friend confided
that he kind of misses the days
when meetings were online
as that way at least
he could see people’s cats,
and as I watched a coworker
across the room
coughing open-mouthed,
I sighed and said:
I miss those days too.

20 98

Plague Poems @plaguepoems.bsky.social · 3d

People keep telling me
we have bigger problems
much bigger problems
than the virus,
and they are right
of course, they are right,
for a virus is a small problem
so small in fact
you need a microscope to see it,
but despite its size
this virus
is still very much a problem.

2 20 120

Plague Poems @plaguepoems.bsky.social · 3d

Before class
I heard several students
discussing which variants
they had acquired,
fortunately
they were talking about
variants of a pop album
they had acquired,
unfortunately
the hoarse voices
they were talking with
suggested they had acquired
another kind of variant as well.

6 38

Plague Poems @plaguepoems.bsky.social · 4d

When they tell you
that the difference
between this recession
and the last one
is that during the last one
there was also a pandemic,
calmly remind them
that during this recession
there is still a pandemic.

1 17 85

Plague Poems @plaguepoems.bsky.social · 4d

He was sounding hoarse
so I asked
if he had been
following the news
about the Stratus variant,
but he just rolled his eyes
and stated that he
had stopped
following the news
about the virus years ago,
but alas it seemed clear to me
that the virus
was still closely following him.

1 21 90

Plague Poems @plaguepoems.bsky.social · 4d

I asked my friend
how the art opening she attended went, and she said it was canceled as the artist and curator both had Covid,  “Can you believe  Covid is still canceling things in 2025?” she asked,
and though I know she meant it rhetorically I responded: “yes, I can.”

2 18 99

Plague Poems @plaguepoems.bsky.social · 4d

I asked how she was
and my colleague said
these
are scary times,
so I said I agree
with all the horrid things
happening in the world
these certainly
are very scary times,
but in response
she pointed to a bowl
of candy on her desk
and simply said:
I meant it’s October

8 50

Plague Poems @plaguepoems.bsky.social · 7d

I know, I know, of course, I know, that there is a difference between those in your life abandoning precautions, and those in your life abandoning you,
but for the life of me there are days when I’m not so sure that there really is
a difference.

1 15 59

Plague Poems @plaguepoems.bsky.social · 7d

A friend says
it is always the right time
to resist
oppression.

A friend says
it is always the right time
to resist
surveillance.

A friend says
it is always the right time
to resist
fascism.

Yes, my friends, and
it is always the right time
to resist
infection.

19 120

Plague Poems @plaguepoems.bsky.social · 7d

If you refuse to test
you will be able
to tell yourself
that what you have
isn’t Covid,
but unfortunately
the Covid you have
doesn’t care
what you tell yourself.

*

A compendium of the 290th week of plague poems…
librarianshipwreck.wordpress.com/2025/10/03/p...

Plague Poems – The Two-Hundred-and-Ninetieth Week

I know, my friends, that in this moment we have other things to worry about that this ongoing pandemic, and yet, my friends, that in this moment we have other things to worry about does not mean th…

librarianshipwreck.wordpress.com

10 45

Plague Poems @plaguepoems.bsky.social · 7d

When I see people
post that “this
is not who we are,”
I take a picture of the comment
(and what they are referring to)
and send it to the historian,
along with a question mark,
and usually the historian replies
“No, it is,”
though sometimes she adds
“but it doesn’t have to be.”

9 49