Andrzejewski, Kayleigh, Alone

Alone

Kaleigh Andrzejewski

A strong gust of silence carries through the house, Crashing into me yet no part of my body reacts. My mind already too far gone, Down, down the rabbit hole of my own thoughts. How do you expect it not to when it is all alone?

Alone in the way my mother leaves early in the morning for work, Risking her life with thick masks and gloves to protect from her patients. Alone in the way my father leaves early in the morning for work, Watching as less and less customers step inside of his restaurant. Alone in the way I sit by myself in my room, Staring at a screen that flashes numbers and words at me, None of which my brain attempts to ingest.

Here I sit in that deep, dark hole I created, A place I have grown to accept more and more as the days pass by. For I am alone day in and day out, The world at a standstill around me.

My phone lights up with a picture of you, Buzzing relentlessly on the cool wooden surface of my desk. It is not the same as before, It cannot be the same as before, But now I am not alone.

Crumbs

Allison Panek

You know when you dunk a cookie in milk? When it sits for too long and gets soggy? That is how this long quarantine has felt, This nightmare has left us feeling groggy.

Now I get there’s many types of cookies, Some aren’t even phased by the cold dairy. But some of us out here are just rookies, Recklessness summoning the life fairy.

The longer we are in here, we break down. Losing sanity instead of flavor, Dripping crumbs into a cut-off small town. Gingerbread kids who need social savior.

Dear universe, please take our cookie out. Disease deserves guillotine—bring a drought.

In a Blink of an Eye

Elizabeth Roof

In a blink of an eye everything had changed, For the elderly in the nursing homes, Not knowing if they would ever leave their prison cell, Locked up and nowhere to go, Nurses coming in looking like astronauts, Fearing for their own lives and family as well, One by one a staff member is positive, Leaving the elderly helpless and testing too, Their weakened immune systems are torn down, They are scared and frightened, Staffing is down, The elderly gets neglected and has unknown signs of death, Only a few get to go to the hospital where they fight for their lives, Only a few get to survive and make it back, To tell the story of the neglect and survival of the deadly virus, In a blink of an eye everything has changed, Stay home and fight for yourselves, And most importantly everyone around you.