Staying set apart is not so rare.
Children who are different
in whatever way offends
the most common denominator
understand and try to make amends
to be included, and not excluded
from the play, the party, the repartee
alongside lockers and desks
and walking home, along the way.
Isolation ices out those different.
Being together used to be
celebration enough for me.
Isolation even after immunization
and boosters brings PTSD
from past to present imagination.
Birthdays and weddings,
funerals and christenings
are no longer safe
for those like me.
Isolation ices out those different.
Cupcakes delivered to the door,
invitations to celebrations where new histories are born
leave those unable to attend forlorn.
We lose not only today’s events
but the connection to friends and family
forged from the past to new futures
where our existence remains unseen.
We are isolated from not only today
but from every tomorrow’s remembrance.
Isolation ices out those different.
annarino writes 