i pace
my apart-ment’s
p e r i m e t e r
[caged]

curiously
cracking the door
to discover
a neighbor
passing by

my heart’s vibrant reach
beyond our six-foot separation
snaps back
cracks my ribs:
my breath
bursting “hello!”
weakened to
a wheeze-turned-whimper...
 

i crook my spine to
adapt
layering this
ache
with
the pain of
self-quarantine &
social distance.
 

dying
for the ease of life
before the
world
col-

    lapse

   d

denying
human beings as
social animals
now
reduced to
:dots: &
-dashes- on
a screen
<frozen>
.stopped.