Shadorma 159
Wheezing laugh
from across the room
I look for
the laugher
Worried for her health. And mine.
Lethal happy germs.
2/21/19
Shadorma 160
The necklace
broke the beads spattered
colorless
futureless
melting against the window.
Drops on the pane. Gone.
2/21/19
Shadorma 161
Your stomach
shrivels up then quick
it inflates
even as
it flips. Press on that belly
and hold in the storm.
2/28/19
Shadorma 162
Wind ruffles
ivy leaves the vine
crawling up
the slant half
of a split-trunk tree hillside
shivers in winter
2/28/19
Shadorma 163
Wailing child
the high-pitched I want
escalates
into screech
carried across the room on
choked-up tears and snot.
2/28/19
Claudia McGill Writes Poetry, Did You Know That? 
Some vivid scenes! It was interesting going back to 159 and realizing that it was written a year before the pandemic. I was always somewhat aware of the sounds of germs but now that attunement is magnified…even the loudness of talking can make a difference.
Yes, I re-read 159 when I was setting up the post and I thought…hmmm…a foreshadowing? No, we are just living in an amplified time, I guess, germs have always been humanity’s enemies, and often we forget how much at their mercy we were back in earlier history.
Yes, we have had watered down hints of plagues of the past…perhaps strongest in some European cultures.