Tipton Poetry Journal – Winter 2021
Social Distancing Robert S. King Much more than six feet away, a neighbor cleans his gutters. At a safe distance, another watches through the face shield of her window. I dare outside toward the empty street to fetch spam mail and bills from my box, leaving my housebound computer wheezing as it tries to disinfect a virus. Even electronics get infected, but today the gutterman’s faith tests positive as he whistles while he works. Across this vast space, the man on wobbling ladder spots my courageous voyage and tears off his mask so that from a distant world he can at least yell hello.
4
