"I just want you to know I can see through your masks..."

So in my family we write either haiku or limericks for holidays or special occasions, I really can’t remember why. The tom-toms are beating over the past couple days, maybe to calm ourselves as the world’s anxiety grows about COVID-19 or about Easter approaching, which we’ll experience virtually. Literally, virtually. Here’s one from Molly:

there once was a bug named Corona
it rhymed with a girl named Sharona
  it wasn’t a beer
  and when it got here
the stores all resembled Pamplona

———-

Everybody in the world is in quarantine. Not just those who observe Lent, or go on the Hajj or celebrate Passover or National Winston Churchill Day or wait on line to vote even though we’re supposed to stay home. But every single soul on the face of the earth who could be affected by Covid 19.  

And wondering about well-known people, whom we’re accustomed to seeing often. What are they doing today as the world continues to battle the pandemic? Where are they? Are they really in their houses? “Safe” at home (vs. “stuck” at home)? Not touring of course. What are the most famous people in this entire world doing during this great equalizer of condition? We know what Andrew Cuomo is doing. And Bernie. And Steph Curry and Bill Gates because they’re front and center with donations. And the mayors of nearby towns. But what about Cindy Sherman, Steven Spielberg, Brigitte Macron, Stephen Sondheim, Lin-Manuel, Nicole Kidman, Obama, Julian Barnes, Tim Cooke, Federer, et al. Do you think they can concentrate on painting or writing? Some are probably composing, like the ever-creative Rufus Wainwright and Taylor Mac. But the person who came to mind first was Bob Dylan, the troubadour, the voice of a generation. I was thinking of his truly great song, “Masters of War,” about his feelings on civil rights and fear of nuclear war. Those are the feelings I have now.  

Here’s my clumsy/not so good one:

There was a young man from Duluth
Who wrote the best music for youth
He won the Nobel
And then he caught hell
For telling us years of the truth

Amateurish, right? But for sure I wish I were on Bob’s WhatsApp