Poems of Pandemic Days by Alice Curley

Took a lot of bows

From center stage

For twenty years

Exited stage left

Out of necessity

When life zig zagged

Down a different road

Then the curtain went down

On everything and everyone

Who wanted a place in theater

For two hours plus

In it together

In the stillness

Of human connection

With the recognition

Of the familiar

Of all that is fleeting

Weeping from a heart awakened

Laughing from a soul relieved

A collective calm remembrance

Of what it is to be us

I offer my resignation

From the periphery

Entering stage right

Without an exit strategy

Out of necessity