RED DOOR 25

HERE COME THE
DEVIANT POETS
The office hours
Celebrity
The suddenly well-known surfer
cresting waves of human health,
recognized by name everywhere,
A-list invader becomes
virus laureate, writes overbearing lines,
taints many stanzas with infected imagery;
now captive audience, feverish,
learns new words and phrases—
coronavirus, social distancing,
self-isolation, flatten the curve—
a species forced to look closely
at itself to understand and adapt
behaviour to this latest trend;
each day all previous charts are topped,
yesterday’s high count fades
as today’s numbers roll out for scrutiny,
and the uncertain faithful,
bearing surgical masks and latex gloves
reluctantly climb the rickety bandwagon
paying careful attention to the turning wheels
that might squeeze breath from lungs,
leaving them collapsed like discarded rag;
while the celebrity strolls red carpet,
waving and pointing into the crowd,
cameras catching the gleam in the eye,
and that dark, dark grin.
Had he not followed me
So closely
Had he not followed me
In a way that revealed
That not only were strangers
Keeping an eye on me
On all my activities
Including my restaurant trips
But my own people
With an account of the bills
That were generated
And my husband
To whom they were sent
All were keenly observing me
And had authorized him
To appear at random
To appear before me
In these places
As though formally
And vocally keeping an eye
And
Had he not exercised
His powers exceedingly
Excessively
I would not have asked him
The exact mechanics
Of how he accomplished it
Given the town was all with him
And against me
All distances were within his reach
But had he not taken advantage
Of all of their espionage
The students would not have pounced on me
The way they did
And I would not have insisted
For the exact mechanics
Behind his patrol
And it just might have prevented
A lot of war.
CALVIN WHARTON
Calvin Wharton
North Vancouver, BC
Canada
PANKHURI SINHA
Bilingual poet and story writer from India.
Two books of poems published in English, two
collections of stories published in Hindi, and five
collections of poetries published in Hindi.
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