Pandemic Abecedarian

Quinn Forlini

Arugula wilts in the plastic
bag. Little things are 
catastrophic now, how
days wither to nights 
even when nobody can 
find a reason. Panic
gorges itself on old greens,
hovering by the fridge.  
Ice left out drips to liquid, 
jelly congeals like an unwanted 
kiss I can't loosen. I 
lick my wounds, find some
mouse to play with, 
nicotine kicking in through an
open door and slapping me, 
pale as an apple cut in half. 
Quarantine has got us all
restless, so everyone 
says, but it's not 
that simple. There's an
urge, sure, for hedonism, to 
vanish into your impulses,   
wallow in your rot. But I took 
Xanax before all this, drank, 
yearned for god, flipped open my
Zippo, let the smoke take over.