NaPoWriMo 2020, Day Twenty-Five: “Corona”

Corona

You want to say to yourself
that it’s a name for a beer,
nothing more than that. You
crack open bottle after bottle,
until you think you can feel
a sensation of being home,
seated around the table
with the Torettos, saying
grace. But you still feel
like something is burning
in your lungs, a fearful heat
like plasma discharged
from a microcosmic sun.
And you can watch movies
all day, you can be so joyful
for a few hours, but this new
meaning won’t un-ascribe
itself, won’t worm its way
out of a word that is now
somehow toxic, rotting.

April is National Poetry Writing Month, and this year I’m writing and publishing a poem a day inspired by the Fast and Furious movies. Last year’s poems (about car insurance) are still live on Medium, so check out my profile if you want more. My 2018 Twilight Zone NaPoWriMo poems are online here.