Saving the Apples of the Ailing Orchard

Many have lost
what they have strived for,
even the ones loved;
they blame the strange wind
from the beyond the sea.

Anger seemed natural,
pointing at the invisible one,
at the humans for being the cause.

Name calling only reveal
the insight blurred
of the first wave.
Quarrel about dis-dual,
east and west,
like children,

denying the mechanism of
the co-dependence, quarreling
at the ailing orchard
save the fruits?

©Byung A. Fallgren

I wrote this piece in December 2020, while the president Trump
was still in the office and blame China for the pandemic and talking
about dis-dual with the country, and so on. China, in return, pointed
to the travelers who spread COVID-19.
There are different opinions on the origin of the virus. Many
believe that it started in a lab or a small village in China. And I have
noticed some leery-eyes thrown in my direction during shopping.
Regardless where it started, treating the whole Chinese or who looks
like them like vermin is ridiculous.
Unsanitary people are not only in China; they are everywhere.
Here in America, for example, I have seen many times that the food service
workers wear the same gloves they used for cleaning when they serve the
customers! More than once, I have asked them to change the gloves
before preparing the food for me. They are busy is to blame. Still,
using the same gloves that are used for counting money or cleaning
the work area when they prepare the food for customers is not sanitary.
So, let’s stop blaming and focus on healing.

Who’s there in the wee hour?

soft knock
on the window
bright moon
waves
from the bare tree

©Byung A. Fallgren

*

The Weekly Avocet is here. Free to download. Please click
the link below.
The Weekly Avocet – #433[662]

Byung A. Fallgren

Widower

losing your loved one
is enough sorrow
why endure loneliness alone
join
our convivial circle

©Byung A. Fallgren

Drumming on Your thigh

Anger runs in many shades:
pink of lover’s;
red of animosity;
pale green of jealousy gone over, and so on.
Most complex anger is purple, of parents’

that bursts, that whips the child,
planting the blue flowers on the skin.
When it happens often and long, in regular,
it slips into the stream of blood and bone,
twists the child’s mind–
can be a permanent cripple.
Regrets, tears, could not undo it. So,

instead of beating your beloved one,
why not clap your hands,
drum on your thigh? Life’s a short.

©Byung A. Fallgren

My poem Pink vase is accepted to be published  in
The Avocet, Spring 2021, printed issue. Thank you,
Charles for choosing the piece.
*
The weekly Avocet #430 is here. It’s free to download.
Please click the link below. The link will hide after a week.
The Weekly Avocet – #430[553]

–Byung A.

On getting the Vaccination

Whenever new pandemic erupts
drug companies rush to make vaccine,
taking each step; sapling stage to mature tree.
New ones are born, full of hope.
Leery-eyed welcome, for the missing nose;
need more time to bloom.
The newborns whimper, waving the tiny hands to
you: hug me, kiss me, give yourselves a try my potion.
See how it does. Knowing their plea is for you, you take
the green potion. Some fall ill, some ride the train
to another place to heal. Fear, distrust.
Yet no one blames them, for they need to grow.
Many desire to drink the potion, learn,
for that is the only way for
the youngsters grow mature.

*
None of the COVID-19 vaccines we have now are FDA approved. FDA
only permitted to give them to such vulnerable group as healthcare providers,
older people, and ones with health issues. There are side effects of
the vaccines. Some people get serious reaction after receiving the vaccination.
People fear and reluctant to get vaccinated, saying: “Wear the mask, wash hands
often, stay away from crowd, and you are fine. Why should I
get the shot and get sick?”

But many people get vaccination. I’ve gotten vaccination. Guess what? I had no side effect,
neither did the many people, except a little sore on the arm!  😊
I’ll get the second one soon.

–Byung A.

Photo by William Wood–wmfwood@yahoo.com 

february cold day
honking travelers in the sky
call for the warm May

©Byung A. Fallgren 

Sunglow

sunglow
on the empty vase
on the kitchen window sill
casts a rainbow shadow
of spring flower

sunglow
on the white show
in the field
silent dream
of Mother Earth

sunglow
on her hair
a promise
of her recovery
from COVID-19

©Byung A. Fallgren

Duel Disaster
Unusual snow storms in Texas,
will hit other states, they say.
Snow storms, pandemic, duel enemy;
test on our strength.
We stretch our arms,
reach every nook, revamp;
we are out-numbered and
outsmarted, put them all under
our mighty waves; put the toxic bubbles
under our feet, pop, pop, pop,
we will subdue it all.

Recent snow storms left Texans with no electricity, no water, in the cold, they report.
I feel sorry for them. We hope they get prompt emergency help they need.

–Byung A.

A Winter Twilight
by Angelina Weld Grimke

A silence slipping around like death,
Yet chased by a wisher, a sigh, a breath;
One group of trees, lean, naked and cold,
Inking their cress ‘gainst a sky green-gdd;
One path that knows where the corn flowers were;
Lonely, apart, unyielding, one fir;
And over it safely leaning down;
One star that I loved ere the fields went brown.

A Winter Twilight originally appeared in
Negro Poets and Their Poems, 1923. Angelina Weld Grimke
was born in Boston Massachusetts in 1880. A journalist,
playwright, teacher, author, and poet. She died in New York City
in 1958.