Image © Oormila Vijayakrishnan Prahlad 2020
| by Oormila Vijayakrishnan Prahlad | April 21, 2020 |
Isolation Day 11
we are getting along fine
even though we are
in each other’s faces
24/7
I’m amused at how
you are the perpetual optimist
(sometimes
I have to remind myself
that’s why I fell for you)
you are so certain
that when this surreal mayhem
finally blows over
people will have grasped
that boundaries and passports
and colour and creed
and wealth and power
do not matter
that we will all be
jolted awake
magically
to opening our hearts forever
committed to reviving
this planet we desecrated
and a greener and cleaner
way of life
a path of peace
will emerge
from the fear and rubble
of this microorganism
this invisible foe
that invades
and replicates
usurping our living cells
that this virus
demonic as it is
will be that super catalyst
to finally illuminate
all of humankind.
pfft…let me tell you –
it’s just the lull
I’m sorry my smile
is disenchanted, honey.
how thrilled you look
with the Instagram photos
of the now aqua waters
in canals and lakes
photos of fish
darting
in unpolluted water so clear
you can see all the way
to the pebbles at the bottom
someone tweets in raw excitement
that the swans
have returned
that birdsong is now heard
in empty city streets
that wild goats leave
their hillock homes
to gingerly explore
deserted by-lanes
as human beings huddle inside
and satellites over industrial belts
show shrinking bands
of nitrogen
clouds of carbon dioxide
disappearing
and the skies gasp
and breathe clear
as factories go dormant
and the Earth seems to moult
and steadily heal
and people reach out
and sing and cheer
and talk through tears
of loving their neighbours
even in the midst
of such adversity
and poets craft
comely words
of a new consciousness
awakening
a kindred world
coming together
its lessons learned
being the same
being enlightened
being one
Oh you crack me up!
it’s such temporary human bullshit
I’m sorry to be
your Negative Nancy, honey.
Oormila Vijayakrishnan Prahlad is a poet, artist, and improv pianist of Indian heritage. Her recent poems have been published in Active Muse, Neologism, The Ekphrastic Review, Dwell Time, and several other print and online journals and anthologies. She lives in Sydney.
Instagram : www.instagram.com/oormila_paintings