by Wilda Morris
It’s Sunday morning,
another month of Covid isolating.
I don’t rush to finish breakfast,
don’t put on dress shoes.
Don’t ask, Should I wear this top?\
Are these slacks too tight?
Is my lipstick on straight,
my hair combed right?
Live-streamed service starts. Only God
knows I’m in my nightgown,
my hair’s in curlers, my feet are bare.
I’m drinking coffee, nibbling a doughnut.
Only God knows if I say
on the Lord’s Prayer aloud,
if I sing the hymns off key.
God only knows how I miss
the Sunday hugs and the friendly hellos.
God knows I’m better off without
the coffee hour treats, those enticing sweets
and how much I miss conversations by the coffee pot.
God only knows how my heart is lifted
by the sacred music, how it soothes ne,
how the benediction falls like a dove’s feather,
how I start another week in isolation
feeling less alone.
Wilda Morris, Workshop Chair, Poets and Patrons of Chicago, and past President, Illinois State Poetry Society, has published over 650 poems in anthologies, webzines, and print publications. She has won awards for formal and free verse and haiku, including the 2019 Founders’ Award from the National Federation of State Poetry Societies. Her second poetry book, Pequod Poems: Gamming with Moby-Dick was published in 2019. Her poetry blog features a monthly contest for poets. She regrets that the pandemic required cancellation of planned visits with grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Liz Baron is an artist and restaurateur who lives in Texas by way of New York City. She and her husband, Jim, founded, own and operate four Mexican-Southwestern restaurants. She got her Bachelor of Fine Art from Pratt Institute but stopped painting when restaurant work and family life consumed most of her time. She is grateful to the online art classes of Sketchbook Skool that helped her regain the joy of a regular art practice.
Global Poemic 