Lucine Z. Kinoian's contribution to our Call for Poems on the topic of epidemics, illness, medicine, death and healing

Lucine Z. Kinoian from Hawthorne, NJ, USA, contributed this original poem in response to the 2020 epidemic.


Watching the Wind 




I had a standoff with a squirrel
Out of loneliness I walked away.
The tree branches wobble
They sway their weight in the air.

Squirrels peck and birds fly-hop
Deer make day-time appearances, too.
Grazing birds no longer stir for a pedestrian,
Having nowhere to go. But they could.

Gone are the threats.
Gone are the noises. For them.
Clouds locked above and outwards
But there is little to gaze down upon.

All is a reminder of what is wrong with the world
Or a reminder of all that is right?
What is this destroyer that has us watching for the wind
Where is it today?

The stillness in the air is all encompassing
Like the kind on a sunny, crisp spring day.
And it is a crisp spring day,
Except that it is not.

There comes a tumultuous gust, casting no heed.
Scratching through anything that stands in its way.
Flowers fall from now swaying branches.
Animals now take brace. Even a flag quivers in fear.

The low grumble penetrates, and
From every direction the air is sharp, piercing.
It is a howl remnant of yesterday's rain.
And prelude to more tomorrow?

Inescapable chills of ice as bare skin flushes red
No sooner does it hit you, that then it ends.
But the stillness has turned serrated, and it is time
To go back inside.

April 10, 2020

APP thanks Lucine for her contribution.