Recovering I
recover like
strength sapped
from maple trees
awaiting
syrup
like a broken
stirrup
on a runaway
steed
its rider
upside
down
being dragged
off into
a distance
unasked for
unknown
or a ghost
unwilling
to admit
that death
has brought
the end of
breath
the sounds of
a household
cacophony
company without
my presence.
Burt Rashbaum is a recovering COVID-19 patient. This poem is part of an in-progress collection about his experience. His most recent volume of poetry, Of the Carousel, about his experiences as an operator at the Carousel of Happiness in Nederland, was published by The Poet’s Press in 2019.
