time travels

3 years ago 
today was an
erratic
Friday

whiteboards
became haunted
with
freeze framed
dates 
and to dos

grocery shelves 
were 
about to be 
wiped cleaned 
of toilet paper

news reels 
had yet to include 
infection rates, 
hot spots, 
and death counts

i would live,
learn,
and work
without my body

my students 
would 
know me 
by beard 
and name 
and wall adornments 
in my home office

projecting
from a new space
fears of yolo
triggered wistful
looks of
fomo

‘where are you?’
was akin to
‘are you safe?’

good night
and 
see you tomorrow
became
idiosyncratic 

hope 
did not 
seem dangerous, 
public space did

safe measures
were clear,
lines defined,
distance estimated
and we were
good with
that

we hadn’t
yet crashed
Amazon
looking for
masks

doing things
was still
rationale 

no one deflated

no one hyperbolized 

no one asked

why bother locking doors?

why bother taking vitamins?

why bother with a seatbelt?

no one yet
wondered
what was next