And now,
my friend,
you can finally say
that you have survived
six years of
this pandemic.
And yet,
my friend,
you cannot say
you still cannot say
that you have survived
this pandemic.
I cannot tell you
exactly where I was
six years ago
when I first heard
that Covid
was officially a pandemic,
however I can tell you
that where I am
six years later
is constantly hearing
people wonder
why they’re always sick.
It is understandable
if on this occasion
(six years
since the WHO
declared Covid
a pandemic)
you find yourself
reflecting on
all you lost
in this pandemic,
but do not forget
the 7.1 million reported
(the 18.2-33.5 million estimated)
who lost all
in this pandemic.
It was on this day
six years ago
that the WHO
officially declared
COVID-19
a global pandemic.
So it is on this day
six years later
that all of us
officially enter
the seventh year
of this pandemic.
I have heard it said
that “The best
memory of 2020
was how animals
returned to the streets
while humans
were in quarantine,”
though I would counter
that the best
memory of 2020
was how for a moment
a very brief moment
so many of us tried
to take care of each other.
When they tell you
that if you do not
take off your mask,
that if you do not
start using AI,
that if you do not
get with the times,
that you will be
left behind,
remember:
it is perfectly acceptable
to respond by telling them
that you do not want
to go where they’re going.
As he pulled off
his heavy coat and scarf
my colleague grumbled:
“I thought this season
was finally over,”
but between each word
he let out a cough
making it rather unclear
if the “season” he meant
was winter or plague,
though it sadly seems
neither season has ended.
When your relatives
(you know the ones)
begin to gripe
about how the cost
of gasoline is going up
take a moment
to be grateful
that on some level
they are finally starting
to pay attention.
Six years ago
I sat at my desk
reading the news
and worrying
that the world
as I knew it
was about to end,
but now
things are different,
yes, now
as I sit at my desk
reading the news
and worrying
that the world
as I know it
is about to end
I am sitting
in a different chair.
My aunt, the doctor,
told me a new joke.
She asked:
Why is it
that nobody can hear
the hoofbeats
of the four horsemen?
I said I did not know.
And so she replied:
Because these days
everyone is wearing
noise canceling headphones.
And then neither of us laughed.
My work friend joked:
with everything happening
all of us should try
not to look
at our retirement funds,
and before I could stop myself
I replied:
with everything happening
our retirement funds
should be
the least of our worries,
and in response
he just walked away.
Today,
when you hear people groan
that they thought,
that they really thought,
they had more time than this,
it may be tempting
to interpret this comment
as a woebegone lament
for the state of the world,
but please know
they are probably just talking
about daylight savings time.
Six years ago
had I known
what was about to happen
I would have looked around
so I could appreciate
(all things considered)
how good I had it.
Six years from now
I just hope
that I do not find myself
looking back at today
and (all things considered)
thinking the same thing.
I keep seeing studies
which find how Covid
damages the brain
and the lungs
and the heart,
and a new study finds
it raises the risk
of kidney disease too,
all of which is why
you will find me
still wearing a mask.
My friend, when you hear
the machine men,
announcing that this year
will be the last year
of meaningful work,
remember: my friend:
that there is no work
more meaningful
than the work we do
to take care of each other.
*
The 312th week of plague poems
librarianshipwreck.wordpress.com/2026/03/06/p...
When you hear people ask
(and you will hear people ask)
if these machines
are conscious,
please try to remember:
that the question is not
if these machines
are conscious,
but why it is that we
treat people
we know are conscious
like they are machines.
As I paid, the cashier stared
at my mask and said
“I’ve been thinking
about wearing one of those,”
and when I said “yeah?”
she replied “everyone
who works here
gets sick all the time,”
and I wanted to say
“it’s like that at my job too,”
and so, that is what I said.
My friend
the climatologist
tells me
what worries him
is the climate.
My friend
the epidemiologist
tells me
what worries them
are infections.
My friend
the historian
tells me
what worries her
are the people
who aren’t worried.
According to new research
from the Yale School
of Public Health
“If measles vaccination rates
continue to drop
just 1% annually
for the next five years,
the cost to the U.S.
could reach $1.5 billion a year,“
though for many people
such a drop
will cost them everything.
I know, I know,
that it truly seems
in this moment
that things are bad,
but consider that
a new study has found:
“Scientists have
been using methods
that underestimated
how high
sea levels already are,”
so just know
that as bad as things seem
in truth: they’re worse.
An important clarification:
when you hear people say
“during Covid”
they do not mean
back when they
were at risk of catching Covid,
for (alas) that time remains,
no, when you hear people say
“during Covid”
they mean
back when they
were trying not to catch Covid.
After I noted
how a century ago
there was a pandemic
followed by fascism
and a world war,
the historian called me
and explained
that a century ago
there was a pandemic
followed by fascism
and a world war
and also by
nuclear explosions,
so let us hope
history stops repeating.
Quoting something
he saw online
my work friend noted:
that being anti-AI
is like being
one of the only
people actually trying
not to get bitten
in a zombie movie,
and as I adjusted
the straps on my mask
and looked at his
unmasked face, I said:
I know how that feels.
As we spoke
he assured me
that he was feeling fine,
yes, as we spoke
he assured me
that he was feeling better,
and as he said this
between coughs
and in a hoarse voice
I began to seriously wonder
if he was trying to reassure me
or trying to convince himself.
Listen:
you must not say
that this is just like
a century ago
when they had a pandemic
followed by fascism
and a world war,
no, you must not say that,
for we
(unlike those a century ago)
cannot say that we
were not warned.
I asked the historian
how she thinks
this moment
will go down in history
and after a moment
the historian replied
that it is unclear how
this moment
will go down in history
but in this moment
in history
all of us are going down.
Should they respond
to your ongoing precautions
by asking if you
are trying to live forever,
take a moment to remember
that the Baltimore Longitudinal
Study of Aging
has connected
a history of infections
with early frailty,
and then tell them
you are just trying to live.
Was 2019
the last “normal” year?
No, 2019 was not
the last “normal” year.
Though 2019
was the last year
in which it was “normal”
to believe crises like these
couldn’t happen to us.
Listen: you must stop
being so superstitious,
there is a perfectly reasonable
scientific explanation
for this morning’s blood moon,
not that such reasonable
scientific explanations
should make you feel any better
about the current state
of our bloody world.
Whatever you say
at this point
do not let it be
“things can’t get any worse,”
for by this point
you should know
things can always get worse.
