Tucson COVID Tales No. 22: Empty School, by Renee Downing
In the time of the virus
the rainless summer
the unchanging days
Absence sloshes through the halls
clocks tick to themselves
lights flicker unseen
The children long scattered
to their trailers
their bunker apartments
their crowded shared rooms
Sunk into their phones, glass-eyed,
Look up for a moment
A glimpse and then gone,
waving goodbye, waving so long
Renee Downing has lived in Tucson for nearly 50 years. She works at a school—which is empty.
Category: TUCSON COVID TALES
