Fear
— After Raymond Carver
Fear of the unknown.
Fear that this will never end, that life will be forever changed.
Fear that truth and science to protect people will be overlooked!
Fear that we will wind up enduring narcissistic abuse for another four years.
Fear that I will run out of beer during the Pandemic.
Fear is not having the “ganas” to reach out to my loved ones.
Fear of death of a loved one and friends and family.
Fear of not being able to say, “Goodbye” as a loved one takes their last breath.
Fear of not being able to fly to Riverside for my dad’s eightieth birthday and giving my dad a birthday hug.
Fear that my dad in Memory Care won’t remember us when the door opens again.
Fear of forgetting what it feels like to hug someone.
That I’ll never lose this fat that I had accumulated!! Ha!
Fear that a return to normalcy will lead to a second pandemic.
Every time I hear someone cough I want to run and hide.
Original prompt: Write one line of poetry addressing what you fear. (After Raymond Carver’s “Fear”)
by Tom Vaden, Patrick Vaden, Natalie Champion, Nan Friedley, Gudelia Vaden, Burcu Misirli Chatham, Raine Lefaivre-Naggi, Kamelyta Noor, Rose Y. Monge, Magdalena Nunez, Cati Porter, Julianna M. Cruz, Rakhi Shelat, Juanita E. Mantz Pelaez
Inlandia: A Literary Journey 