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Plague Poems @plaguepoems.bsky.social · 4h

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.

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Plague Poems @plaguepoems.bsky.social · 6h

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.”

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Plague Poems @plaguepoems.bsky.social · 8h

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.

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Plague Poems @plaguepoems.bsky.social · 10h

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?

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Plague Poems @plaguepoems.bsky.social · 1d

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.

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Plague Poems @plaguepoems.bsky.social · 1d

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.

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Plague Poems @plaguepoems.bsky.social · 1d

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.

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Plague Poems @plaguepoems.bsky.social · 1d

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.

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Plague Poems @plaguepoems.bsky.social · 2d

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.

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Plague Poems @plaguepoems.bsky.social · 2d

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.

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Plague Poems @plaguepoems.bsky.social · 2d

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.”

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Plague Poems @plaguepoems.bsky.social · 2d

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

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Plague Poems @plaguepoems.bsky.social · 5d

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.

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Plague Poems @plaguepoems.bsky.social · 5d

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.

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Plague Poems @plaguepoems.bsky.social · 5d

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

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Plague Poems @plaguepoems.bsky.social · 5d

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.”

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Plague Poems @plaguepoems.bsky.social · 5d

I have a friend
who keeps complaining
that in recent years
nothing smells right anymore
so I sent him an article
titled “COVID-19
Damage to Sense of Smell
Long-Lasting and Subtle,”
and my friend replied
that he’s sure
that in his case
there’s another explanation.

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Plague Poems @plaguepoems.bsky.social · 6d

As we passed each other
in the supermarket aisle
the woman in the flag shirt
glared at my mask and hissed:
“people like you
make me sick,”
and though I meant
to ignore her and keep walking
instead I heard myself reply,
“people like you
are why everyone
keeps getting sick.”

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Plague Poems @plaguepoems.bsky.social · 6d

I was worried
upon seeing a study that found
“Nearly 7 in 10
COVID survivors tested
didn’t know
they had a dulled sense
of smell,”
but I was terrified
upon seeing the study note that
“olfactory dysfunction
is a strong early factor
associated
with neurodegenerative disease.”

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Plague Poems @plaguepoems.bsky.social · 6d

According to reports
a symptom
of the Status variant
is that it causes individuals
to have a hoarse voice,
so when your friends
and your coworkers insist
that they just have a cold
don’t listen
to what they say
instead pay attention
to how they sounded
when they said it.

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Plague Poems @plaguepoems.bsky.social · 6d

As we talked politics
my work friend noted
that it feels impossible
to share a society
with so many people
who have turned
their backs on reality,
and as I adjusted my mask
while looking
at his maskless face,
I said: I agree completely.

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Plague Poems @plaguepoems.bsky.social · 7d

An open note
to the friend who said
that he can’t imagine
how things
can get any worse:

My friend
you must try
you must really try
really you must try
to expand your imagination.

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Plague Poems @plaguepoems.bsky.social · 7d

I sent my friend
the grade school teacher
an article titled:
“Long Covid Risk
for Children
Doubles After a Second Infection,
Study Finds,”
and my friend replied
that at this point
most of the children
at her school
have had many more
than just two Covid infections.

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Plague Poems @plaguepoems.bsky.social · 7d

A climatologist
told me it’s not normal
for it to be this hot
right now

An epidemiologist
told me it’s not normal
for so many to be sick
right now

A historian
told me it’s not normal
for the government to be shutdown
right now

It’s not normal,
my friends,
it’s not normal.

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Plague Poems @plaguepoems.bsky.social · 7d

An important reminder
in this perilous time:
the government,
has been shutdown,
but the pandemic,
has not been.

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