More vaccinated people means more people getting together safely. Often, for the first time in many months. That was the inspiration for this Typewriter Rodeo poem.
Reunion
a grandmother embraces a grandchild
she hasn’t seen
in fourteen months
and they weep
with a joy
that feels more like relief
and with the grief of loss
on the grandmother’s part
the child is
so different
and for the child’s part,
terror at the sudden intimacy
with this barely remembered
person
they know they’re supposed
to love
and in another part of the park
two meet for the very first time
in person
having found each other
months before, somewhere
in the Great Online
and having exchanged so many letters
messages
voices and videos
enough to cross the threshold
into something they called love
and they, too, weep
with the relief of longing
and the terror
of what comes next
