So, if you believe the newspapers
And the cable newscasts
COVID is over
Spoken of in the past tense
While millions continue to die
In India and elsewhere

The anticipated return to sanity and normalcy
Appears to be anything but
The era of Trump &
The insanity of the COVID era
Has led to unthinkable events

A  government issued a fake bomb threat
Hijacking a plane full of citizens
To arrest and imprison one  dissident

The world is shocked, but what can be done?

The descent into barbarity
Exacerbated by Trumpism
Continues at full tilt

The ever-more-obvious Nazification of Israel
Is another example

What. The. Fuck.

What’s a little Jew to do?

And now that I no longer leave the house
Trembling in fear of illness
And with my face unmasked
I feel like a visitor to a lost world

Having learned to find meaning
Alone in my room
I discover I no longer find much meaning
In the pleasure of restaurants or window shopping
Walks downtown or rummaging
Through thrift shops and used bookstores

I’m inclined to continue my stay-at-home ways
And yet home is not what it was during COVID

Retreat seems less magical
Suddenly I’m a real nowhere man
Living in a nowhere land
Making all my nowhere plans
For nobody

I imagine this is something
Like a soldier might feel
Returning from battle

What’s going on?

Something is happening
I suppose

But I’ve lost the beat
And can’t quite join the dance

What’s it like for you?