By Peggy Shumaker
The people were used to dying
one at a time
Then came a sickness
upon the land,
came a sickness
to every nation
Came a sickness that killed
killed the already ill, killed
those who had not known
sickness, killed the generous of heart
who cared for the dying, killed
the brilliant and the dull,
young and old, killed
those who took great care,
killed the careless,
killed those who embraced
worship, killed those
who touched
no God, killed
those confined, killed
those who for 10,000 years
survived, killed those newly arrived,
killed those imprisoned
for being poor, killed
teachers, killed hungry students,
killed those who hoarded
medicines, killed
those who needed medicine
The people were used to grieving
by gathering
the goodness each person
brought to the world
Then upon the land
came this sickness
Left bereft
we masked ourselves
So many at once, gone
without touching
without goodbye
without a kiss
without rites
perfected
over centuries
Came a sickness
that has our finest minds scrambling
to invent vaccines, to
mass-produce PPE,
to test and test and test
to prepare
Came more sickness
of mind,
price gouging, scams, lies,
the constant deliberate
train crash of lies
Came the kindness of strangers,
kindness of neighbors
Came a healing
came groceries
left on the porch, came
cloth quilted into masks
came brown blue hazel green
eyes above them
seeking other eyes
Came second chances
for the lucky,
recoveries, mild
dreams, wild dreams
of what next
Came a second wave
of sickness
Came deep grief
opening rituals
we’d never touched
Came a call
call for cease fire
in every war
Breathe in, breathe out
this air we share
Each breath a blessing
that those left on earth
might cherish
buds unfurling,
cherish ripe mango
Care the best we can
Every person worthy
Every person us
No them
There came a sickness upon the land
that joined every other sickness
that said, “You are not us, not you.”
Peggy Shumaker is the daughter of two deserts—the Sonoran desert where she grew up and the subarctic desert of interior Alaska where she lives now. Shumaker was honored by the Rasmuson Foundation as its Distinguished Artist. She served as Alaska State Writer Laureate. She received a poetry fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. Shumaker is the author of eight books of poetry, including Cairn, her new and selected volume. Her lyrical memoir is Just Breathe Normally. Professor emerita from University of Alaska Fairbanks, Shumaker teaches in the Rainier Writing Workshop MFA at PLU. She serves on the Advisory Board for Storyknife, and on the board of the Alaska Arts and Culture Foundation. Shumaker is editor of the Boreal Books series (an imprint of Red Hen Press), editor of the Alaska Literary Series at University of Alaska Press, poetry editor of Persimmon Tree, and contributing editor for Alaska Quarterly Review.