Welcome to my latest exercise in an attempt to reach my goal of being a prolific writer in 2022. So, in addition to writing 1 short story each week (Because Ray Bradbury said you can’t write 52 bad ones – challenge accepted!) I will be attempting to post an original poem each day in April. This is not going to be easy – I’ve not really written poetry since college. So, these will be thrown together each day and not very edited.

I can hear you now – sucky stories and bad poetry? Sign me up.

For more information about the blogging challenge, see http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com/)

Zoom

There was a certain comfort
seeing colleagues, family, friends
in little boxes on the screen
at least for those of us
wishing we were part of
the Brady family

Alice would constantly need to be reminded
that whatever the current status
of her mute button
it was wrong

And Marcia would lose
patience
Because she could zoom just fine
until her wifi router
decided it was tired

The Bradys would survive–
they always did –and solve their problems in
thirty minutes
which is why many of us
expected the pandemic to be over
and done
with all the loose ends
(economy, supply chain, wars)
tied up
roll credits

We did not expect
that our five-year-olds
would be proficient in
Teams
Skype
Webinars
and Zoom
but someone needed to tell the teacher
she was not on mute
when she screamed at her kids
then came back to the camera
all smiles and softness

We did not expect
to Zoom through 2022
with new features
We should not still be
arranging our kitchens
–where did I put my pineapple?
for the best background
We should not be
making social decisions
after checking a case count website

Yet here we are on Zoom
once again

wishing each other
was still on mute.