The quarantine was stunning, Covid we could have done without.
A walk on the snow-covered beach the last outing\u00a0
before we took to our big old house full of windows \u2014 the outside world
just beyond the dimpled glass: great rolling heaves of mist, rain, the labored breath of a bus
We laid trays of coffee \u2014 \u201croom service!\u201d \u2014 at the first child\u2019s door.
Two more sick: the house now kids\u2019 majority rule!\u00a0 I slipped behind the door of my office
but an hour of virtue is all you need to know it\u2019s no fun. \u00a0
Why bother otherwise?\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
How lucky the kitchen was stocked with tiny marshmallows and French chocolate
waiting in dishes for guests that would never come\u2026
a list of movies, a fireplace with stacks of crackling logs
six-point crumpled Kleenex fluttering as paper snowflakes in an infinity of\u00a0patterns
tables littered with bottles \u2014- cough syrup, elderberry, zinc \u2014
and cake vying for room with white test kits<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We laughed into delirium when time was a stream of barely noted
notches in the inevitable:\u00a0
and talked of dreams, Rebbe Nachman, how to organize notebooks
not optimists but expecting each day would get better
New Year’s Eve was a muted affair;\u00a0
even if historic and global, we could say we did it in our pyjamas
in our own creaturely language
although we were still stuck in the indeterminacy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The quarantine was stunning, Covid we could have done without.A walk on the snow-covered beach the last outing\u00a0before we took to our big old house full of windows \u2014 the outside world just beyond the dimpled glass: great rolling heaves … Continue reading