“Intimacy in the Time of a Pandemic. A Poem."

I had yet to contemplate the intimacy of a bus ride with 50 strangers, until now
the intimacy of sharing door knobs and restaurant tables and gas pumps and park benches with millions of people I will never meet face to face.
Everyday, I take a part of them with me
No, let me be more direct-
Let me be more…
Intimate
Every day, I take a part of you with me
I breath you deep into my lungs
and then I breath you out and someone else breaths you in
This is an intimacy, that most of the time, goes unnoticed,
until now
What a wild ride to be spinning around space with you all!
All 7 billion of you, on a planet
held in perfect tension between the moon and the sun
Gravity!
but not too much and not too little
Temperature!
but not too hot and not too cold (for now)
It is this perfect placement, after all, that allows hydrogen and oxygen, which allows water, which allows organisms, which allows amoebas, and fish, and skunks, and possums, and elephants, and dogs and trees and my four month old baby
and…a four month old virus, sweeping the globe
What will we do with the knowledge of this intimacy?
What vows can I possibly make to you all and to our one, perfect planet?

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