In America
Kids are always the battle ground
What they read
What we teach them
How we raise them
Yet in our hubris
We allowed 8 million of them
To be stricken with grief
You see
We were too busy arguing
To care about the consequence
Tag: Pandemic
A gentle rhythm
Inhale, exhale, and repeat
Stave off all that’s bad
It’s so hard to start
But the pounding of my feet
And the sweat dripping
Keeps me sane
Sometimes in our lives
We need a break from it all
True for children, too
My fourteen year old…
Said she needed a reset
As a parent, it’s hard
Hearing you’re not wanted
But it’s a valid feeling
For a teen to have
Especially when…
So many things are going on
So, she’s at grandmas
With no phone, but lots of love
For her reset.
And as for me?
The waves crash in front of me
Teal and turbulent
Foaming with worry and tousled with love
For my kid who carries so much.
I feel like I’m losing
Across the table, you stare
With hollowed out eyes
Eyes that scare me
Because I’m worried for you
Worried for all the feelings
I cant possibly help you manage
Not by myself. Not without help
And, don’t worry. We will get you help.
But in the meantime
I feel useless
Wishing I could take your pain
And fear
Ball it up and throw it far away
Crush it into dust
And send it up into space, letting it orbit around a star instead of your brain
But i can’t
I can’t do anything but stand by you.
And tell you I love you
The lights still twinkle
Beautiful in the darkness
Red, green, blue, and white
Their defiant glow
Bringing joy to the neighbors
amidst troubling times
Not just one person
Multiple houses have lights
Strung up for christmas
And electrified
As beacons for change
Categories
Not yet…
Mask restrictions lift
With glee and exaltation
From those not masking
It’s not like it’s hard
A good mask protects yourself
And other people
Covid isn’t gone
When I hear you complaining
About wearing masks
I also wonder
How many you infected
In your stubbornness
Categories
Unintended consequences?
The consequences
Of the pandemic
Will be hard to count…
However, it’s clear
That the main victims are kids
They are in shambles
First, online schooling
Then, rolling quarantines and
Sick family members
We’ve expected them
To be strong. Meanwhile adults
Kept failing the kids.
Don’t @ me on this
I know we’ve all done our best
Closing school was right.
Here is my real point
We’ve asked our kids to adapt
While leaving no tools
In their school toolbox
They are alone in the wild
Because schools didn’t adjust
To the trauma of the kids
Sometimes it’s so hard
To keep fighting for your “dreams”
And, as I get old
It’s, increasingly
More difficult, yet urgent
To feel accomplished
Please don’t get me wrong
I am very privileged
I understand that
But, I also feel
That I always come up short
Destined to only
Stand just to the side
While others take the spotlight
It’s…disheartening.
Twelve of twenty-five
Students absent in my class
It’s not a mask thing
They all have COVID
It’s spreading so quickly that
I see in real time
The sickness take hold
And worsen over the day
The worst part of this
Is that so many don’t care
But kids are suffering
You know what’s wild?
When a lack of mitigation
Leads to a case rise.
It’s almost as though
We could have seen it coming
Oh wait…we did see.
Instead choosing to do nothing
And now cases rise.
One quarter absent
Yesterday at my school
What do I do with that?
Teachers are so so tired
Because…we told you so.
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