Spring unfolds—a dystopian novel.
A give-back for denying
the environment. Kids stay home, squabble,
zip-locked into stifling compliance.
Ubiquitous—the disinfectant
spritz of income insecurity.
And the curve of death-count—bent.
Nurses work relentlessly
to close the six-foot gap between unknowns.
about the evil eye, the propitious
pitchfork, magical sacks of boundary stones.
Every doorknob, every surface—pernicious.
This April as the world turns green,
days are preened by quarantine.
Grey Held is a recipient of an NEA Fellowship in Creative Writing and the 2019 Future Cycle Poetry Book Prize Winner. Three books of his poetry have been published: Two-Star General (BrickRoad Poetry Press, 2012), Spilled Milk (WordPress, 2013), and WORKaDAY (FutureCycle Press, 2019). Grey is a literary activist.
