By Patrick Hazard
I walk with a mask in the streets
We never walked, separation is
Not ended, we communicate still
Via the cool canvas of WhatsApp
Where nothing sings and nothing
Laughs, harsh text and spaces
To be filled like these hours that
Pass slowly with grim directives
We find a way beyond absence
And presence, that does not lapse
Into solipsism but remains painterly
A hard won still life or chiaroscuro.
(July 2020)
