Art & Poetry by Kurt Cole Eidsvig, corona virus, Covid-19, corona virus poem | Poets Reading the News

Sweet and Sticky Mango [AUDIO]

March 30, 2020

 

The only bubble
soda left in the ravished-
by-the-quarantine

CVS store was
piña colada LaCroix.
It tastes like sunblock.

Every sip I take
creates this catchy scratch in
my throat’s swollen back.

5 minutes later
I know I’m dying because
I forget this fast

reaction happens
no matter what I do or
don’t. In this way my

attempts to flatten
the curve with seltzer water
gulps reminds me of

everything I did
or do with you. You wanted
my hands against your face

when we kissed or dressed
in moonlight brake lights, Uber,
Lyfts and taxi cabs

provided our hiding
places in. You confided
selected stories

to your friends so they
never knew if our love was
blooming blossoms or

discarded vases
and long-stemmed boxes. Untie
the narrative you

described with your hair
touching eyes to me. Stories
you know end or start

in hours recording
lines and FaceTime. The frightened
truth isn’t what you

remember or believe
or depend on others to
direct you to. No,

the worst part in not
touching and retouching our
surfaces is what

you no longer ached
for or longed for or knew in
all your heart. It’s what

you pretended had
never happened or came true.
It’s what you forgot.

________

Kurt Cole Eidsvig is a poet, writer, and visual artist whose work has earned awards like the Massachusetts Cultural Council Grant and a Warhol Foundation/Creative Capital Fellowship.

Art: “LEAVE DON’T” by Kurt Cole Eidsvig.

Panic as Particle & Wave by Rachel Bennett, covid-19, coronavirus poetry | Photo by Zoltan Tasi on Unsplash | Poets Reading the News
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