The celebration in Wuhan is a galaxy of lights.
The temporary hospitals are torn down, the malls
are reopened. A man fixes his daughter’s mask
by a public fountain. Friends share a post-work beer.
Things will get worse, but then, they will get better.
The white tents in Central Park will blow away.
The USNS Comfort will disembark. At the Javits Center,
booths will replace beds. Broadway will burst the night
with its shining marquees. First the cities will open
up their doors, then the nations. We will see each other
again. We will hug and kiss again. We will share a joint
before the movie. In this one, the hero walks proudly
into danger. The enemy is invisible, ubiquitous, but
so is love. I won’t spoil it for you, but meaning returns,
and purpose. The hero flies his spaceship to the
restaurant to meet us. He shakes our ungloved hand.
Eric Raanan Fischman is an MFA recipient from Naropa University’s Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics, and his first book, Mordy Gets Enlightened, was published in 2017 through The Little Door at Lunamopolis.
