If you called my extreme condition: you might
diagnose sister love--but do you know
about the side effects
when my phone tells me it's her calling
--nausea, dry mouth, anxiety,
shortness of breath
she knows this and inserts a subject line
even as I--"hello?" "All's well, Akka,
I just called..."
international calls are ordinary yet hide
like a virus inside information
finding a way to threaten
despite the softness of my sister's voice--
noisy futures sometimes dance
alongside the old world
international calls will make me watch--
make me guess who'll partner next
parents, cousins, other loves
"I just called..." she says "one million cases..."
she says "I wanted to tell you all
to be safe and careful."
Of course there's no way to be careful enough
(home is: a high school student,
a fast food worker, an ER doc)
I'm in the literal woods now (the metaphorical
end of the sea), until the sun unhooks itself
from a cloud shaped like a headache
and sails into the sky without even a cough
just this high, bright, and bored god
bearing messages--but not for me
-----------------------------------------------
Pic: Sunrise at Baker Woods. The phone rang as I was taking this picture, and I panicked when I saw it was my sister as it was kind of an unusual time for her to call me. She was calling because we--the U.S.--topped over a million NEW Covid infections yesterday. She wanted to ask the family to be safe and careful. But how?
