Non-Announcement of Non-Poetry-Reading

[The Poetry Institute -- New Haven]

Pi Poetry Series 

Presents

 

No Poetry Reading this Month

 

Our Regularly Scheduled Reading 

Wednesday, April 15, 20202

is Cancelled.

No poetry tonight.  The moon will be out,

but poets will not.  Open Mic readers will

be reading Openly at home.  Featured Readers

will be Featured in place, at least 6 feet away

from other wordsters.  Soaring lines and

blunt truths will all be quarantined.  Bank robbers

and poetry audience members will all be masked

 and will congregate in groups of 5 or less.  Preferably

less.  And the 6-foot rule will be extended to 8.  I have

duct taped 2 yardsticks and a ruler – to allow

for overlap – together.  And I carry them with me

when I go out, swinging them in a 360-degree circle,

creating a safety bubble to travel within.  I have stopped

eating corn, cauliflower, cookies, and cappuccino,

just as a precaution, and neither will I swallow vodka,

vindaloo, vichyssoise, nor vanilla.  Vermouth shall not

touch my lips, nor shall cucumbers contact either nostril.

My eyes may observe vermicelli, but no union shall occur,

as might have happened in simpler times.  Poets tonight

will attempt to isolate the phrases that will heal us all,

even as they intone those predictable but essential

utterances, “Be healthy!  Stay safe.”