Invacuation-191
Tony deTrinidad
For all who fell to COVID-19 incarcerated at San Quentin State Prison
The electric buzz smacks my consciousness
Shocking me from a languid television trance
Its ear-piercing hum bombards my senses
Invades my cell
Floods the air
Oscillating from red surprise to gray anxiety
“Alarm in the unit!”
Like a four-letter word
Vehemently spits from the guard’s loudspeaker
Bringing a raw awareness of immutable mortality
As a draconic virus engulfs the planet
With no shelter but to shelter-in-place
Victims fall gasping behind even these prison walls
Apocalyptic alarms up
For every “man down!”
Waking me and mercilessly punctuating the days
Invacuating me, saturated with questions
Like “Who’s fallen this time?”
And “Am I next?”
Distracting myself actually helps.
Immersing my attention in tasks and entertainment
So I try to get lost in a movie
But before I get the chance
The electric buzz smacks my consciousness
Shocking me from a languid television trance.
Shocking me from a languid television trance
Its ear-piercing hum bombards my senses
Invades my cell
Floods the air
Oscillating from red surprise to gray anxiety
“Alarm in the unit!”
Like a four-letter word
Vehemently spits from the guard’s loudspeaker
Bringing a raw awareness of immutable mortality
As a draconic virus engulfs the planet
With no shelter but to shelter-in-place
Victims fall gasping behind even these prison walls
Apocalyptic alarms up
For every “man down!”
Waking me and mercilessly punctuating the days
Invacuating me, saturated with questions
Like “Who’s fallen this time?”
And “Am I next?”
Distracting myself actually helps.
Immersing my attention in tasks and entertainment
So I try to get lost in a movie
But before I get the chance
The electric buzz smacks my consciousness
Shocking me from a languid television trance.
1“invacuate” (verb) 1. to confine (people) to a closed area in an emergency situation. *Etymology: based on ‘evacuate’, with ‘in-‘ inserted instead of its opposite, ‘e-’.
