“Confetti Storms”

 “Confetti Storms”

by Suzán Jiván Mom & Mom-Mom Suzán 

Confetti storms twirling disco balls 

corks popping banging on pots 

nonstop binge watching

spare plots still at large ...

“A Great Reminder”

 “A Great Reminder”

by Suzán Jiván Mom & Mom-Mom Suzán 

A great reminder 

hiding like none-the-wiser leviathans

never transcribed songs gone silent

El Sol rising ... 

“ A Variant Viral Form”

 “A Variant Viral Form”

by Suzán Jiván Mom & Mom-Mom Suzán 

A variant viral form cases soaring 

millions lost both rich and poor 

all longing for turning points 

gorging on dark chocolate 

back dooring brown and pale ales 

restoring grandstanding sass

via a fast-tracked vaccine ever after ...

“Vaporous Infiltration”

 “Vaporous Infiltration”

by Suzán Jiván Mom & Mom-Mom Suzán 

Vaporous infiltration virus penetration 

smokey undulations hellish incineration 

belching methane encircling the Equator

whizzing through space at a tragic pace 

birthplace desecration pluming flames 

noxious exhalation wreathed in grievous grays ...

“Revisiting”

 “Revisiting”

by Suzán Jiván Mom & Mom-Mom Suzán 

Revisiting the serious/alarm bells ringing/with new words for misery/doom-scrolling mask-hole/Zoom- fatigue/spilling over/building morale/a bit more bearable/like making bail/via word slang/as worry gives way to wordplay/in a postvaccine world/of everlasting quasi-normality ...

“Set to Lapse”

 “Set to Lapse”

by Suzán Jiván Mom & Mom-Mom Suzán 

No hint of future plans forcing stopgap 

stress factors passing through two Bethlehems

experienced behind scratched plexiglass 

hi-fiving Santas wearing reindeer antler face masks

scavenging for cats owls and rabbits 

stopping traffic between Jolly and Nazareth 

donning black armbands for days thereafter ...

“Forebears”

 “Forebears”

by Suzán Jiván Mom & Mom-Mom Suzán 

Forebears wearing warm mohair

hosting post-hippie ethos

throwing holiday bowls flecked with gold 

adapting to Covid moment-to-moment 

lying prone eyes closed

on a sectional sofa of red-velvet festive Noels ...

“Blinking”

 “Blinking”

by Suzán Jiván Mom & Mom-Mom Suzán 

Blinking sideways in flight standing to landing

crossing paths mixing tales four times faster 

all at a glance spotting napping whales 

attaching cameras to humpbacks

tracking habitats with a tag and a slap 

avoiding its flapping tail

understanding gargantuan mass strandings...

“Eyeing the Exits”

 “Eyeing the Exits”

by Suzán Jiván Mom & Mom-Mom Suzán 

Eyeing the exits a feast for the eyes

a twinkle in one’s eye having stars in one’s eyes 

as far as the eye can see averting one’s eyes 

all eyes ay yi yi ay ay ay aye yai yai ...

“An Infusion”

 “An Infusion”

by Suzán Jiván Mom & Mom-Mom Suzán 

An infusion of buoying relief  for “We the people” 

negotiated over take-out slices and spiked moonshine 

enabling legislating over a midnight deadline 

while turning on a dime ...

“Vacant Chairs”

 “Vacant Chairs”

by Suzán Jiván Mom & Mom-Mom Suzán 

Vacant chairs scant tables raging contagions 

postponed vacations cancelled celebrations 

avoiding hugs and hand shakes 

remaining masked warding off anger and sadness

joyfully recalling happy hand claps 

and nostalgic pats on the back ...

“Clawing”

 “Clawing”

by Suzán Jiván Mom & Mom-Mom Suzán 

Clawing at thorny sticking points 

pushback backlash 

a raging “Troller-in-Chief” 

stoking the wrath 

of grievous conspiracy factors 

as his last best chance 

to tear at our social fabric ...

“Adding Millions”

 “Adding Millions”

by Suzán Jiván Mom & Mom-Mom Suzán 

Adding millions of doses/jockeying for shots/prompting careful monitoring/for anaphylactic shock from “stabilizing molecules”/hunkering down with asterisks/due to catastrophes/clinging to spring/overcoming cumulative fatigue/fight flight or freeze/internalizing mortality/no heartbeat no breathing no brain activity/as the ultimate in “social distancing”/being given the epitome of a lingering round trip/via boosted immunity/administered in a needle and a syringe ...

“Conjuring Cheer”

 “Conjuring Cheer”

by Suzán Jiván Mom & Mom-Mom Suzán 

Conjuring cheer fresh-cut trees wreaths and greenery 

channeling sparking tinsel imagining healing magic

granted in an enchanted Santa’s Sack ...

“Staring Down”

 “Staring Down”

by Suzán Jiván Mom & Mom-Mom Suzán 

Staring down logjams 

paring down stimulus demands 

hammering out wrangling details 

confounding hacker malware 

forming catch-all recovery plans ...

“No Small Task”

 “No Small Task”

by Suzán Jiván Mom & Mom-Mom Suzán 

No small task building bulletproof programs/in emergency management/in high demand/no matter how bad/brandishing pistols in both hands/“Kill me! Kill me!” death wishes planned/leaving crowds scrambling/taking cover behind trees/ emptying a suicide-by-cop gunman’s backpack/containing a canister of gasoline/rope knives and a Bible/fatally staged in a deranged Portal of Paradise ...

“Peevishness Over Reason”

 “Peevishness Over Reason”

by Suzán Jiván Mom & Mom-Mom Suzán 

Peevishness over reason leaving behind 

landlines of misery eviscerating reality 

via vandalous retaliative trails 

of lame-duck-planted booby traps ...

“Ramping Up”

 “Ramping Up”

by Suzán Jiván Mom & Mom-Mom Suzán 

Ramping up cutting back touch down 

back-flipping vaccine app 

wearing masks washing hands 

cardboard fans talking trash ...

“Kicking Off”

 “Kicking Off”

by Suzán Jiván Mom & Mom-Mom Suzán 

Kicking off raging on rolling out 

disproportionate high stakes uptakes

ungainly waves underway 

barely contained unsubstantiated claims 

aping fraud allegations

straining public faith being taken to the grave ...

“Drawing Ire”

 “Drawing Ire”

by Suzán Jiván Mom & Mom-Mom Suzán 

Drawing ire daily reminders 

perils of deciding m

paying the price 

to a bona fide

defeated

“Commander-in-Chief”

screaming, “Capeesh?!” 

to the Grand Old Party

unseemly acting, “deef”

 to “We the people” ...

“A Monthslong Slog”

 “A Monthslong Slog”

by Suzán Jiván Mom & Mom-Mom Suzán 

A monthslong slog of, “Now whats?!”

asking, “Will vaccine promises

be graded as,  ‘pass/fail’ due to last-minute snags?”

breaking daily death marks 

becoming hobbled by small shot allotments 

by Big Pharma ending in false positives 

and the execution of search warrants in a lockdown...

“Tallying”

 “Tallying”

by Suzán Jiván Mom & Mom-Mom Suzán 

Tallying lagging postmortem data 

promoting vaccine raffles as a stratagem 

for managing forecasts podcasting the odds 

of bellyflopping star-hoppers getting swallowed 

whole by massive black-hole Coronas ...

“Difficult or Impossible”

 “Difficult or Impossible”

by Suzán Jiván Mom & Mom-Mom Suzán 

Difficult or impossible/overwhelmed hospitals/rationing triage in raging hot spots/frantically beeping alarm monitors/ asking, “What planet are you living on eating maskless in a crowded restaurant?”/imposing brutal public policies of shaming Puritan stocks/versus less harsh health policies of more effective nuance/via acknowledgment of reducing potential harm ...

“Cracking the Glass”

 “Cracking the Glass”

by Suzán Jiván Mom & Mom-Mom Suzán 

Cracking the glass crashing guard rails 

jarring passages hurtling barriers 

moving the masses devils’ details 

putting the kibosh on 

pics picks in a parlor 

inscribed on stone markers 

served up on the rocks ...

“In the Midst”

 “In the Midst”

by Suzán Jiván Mom & Mom-Mom Suzán 

In the midst of deadly metrics making little sense 

limiting affordable access to critical medicine 

due to intellectual property projections 

becoming punishingly expensive 

in a global pandemic creating a mathematical 

remedy of  “Swiss Cheese Respiratory 

Pandemic Defense” representing protection 

from cumulative errors and adverse events ...

“Final”

 “Final” 

by Suzán Jiván Mom & Mom-Mom Suzán 

Final days of rage relentless campaigns 

of vindication and vilification 

promoting false claims railing against fate 

in the late stages of seizing on grievances 

refusing to concede vowing to repeat

like Grover Cleveland ...

“Underlying”

 “Underlying”

by Suzán Jiván Mom & Mom-Mom Suzán 

Underlying, “Who survives?”

hospitalizations on the rise 

losing sight of signs of the times 

relying on balmative hodgepodges

of  Classic Honky-Tonk Hip-Hop 

Hard Rock and the “Messiah”

as dotted or double-dotted calmatives...

“Shuttered In”

 “Shuttered In”

by Suzán Jiván Mom & Mom-Mom Suzán 

Shuttered in roped off 

far away from red zones 

eluding spiked microbes 

gamboling inner roles 

hermits gone rogue 

posting poems...

“Nearly”

 “Nearly”

by Suzán Jiván Mom & Mom-Mom Suzán 

Nearly doubling the peak/retrieving bodies/ grim viral reapers/staggering casualties/death tolls climbing/eye-popping outliers/struggling to keep people alive/ infecting more than a million weekly/victims sent home and watched closely/post emergency triage at overburdened hospitals/falling short on nurses and doctors/mirroring rolling out vaccines/targeting comorbidites/obtaining maximum immunity/looming availability/reaching the heights of absurdity/tightly controlled “bubble” environments/ jury-rigged lowlights televised live at giant felled tree lightings ...

“Cursive Text”

 “Cursive Text”

by Suzán Jiván Mom & Mom-Mom Suzán 

Cursive text

hot-button temperature checks 

for presidential party guests 

mimicking “superspreaders”

making no mention of the pandemic 

flouting protection 

uncowed by mounting death ...

“Don’t Forget”

 “Don’t Forget”

by Suzán Jiván Mom & Mom-Mom Suzán 

Don’t forget to give credit to adding dimensions

to the day-to-day aesthetic by melding elements

of warm remembrances via assemblages 

of everything — even the messily 

inevitable rough edges ...