The nation’s capital stands empty today
No throngs of politicians, aides, and lobbyists
Fill the streets with cars, buses, and taxis
No snarled traffic fills the freeways
Would that image have shaken America awake?
Would people have then finally realized this is real?
That there is a sickness destroying our lives?
A desolate city, the Capital has gone quiet
I doubt it, I doubt it because this has happened
Because the news is full of business owners
Complaining that people refuse to work for starvation wages
Instead workers are demanding shares of record profits
News of the pandemic deaths are so old now
Like shootings at schools, they aren’t reported
The deaths have become an everyday report
Check the weather, check the traffic, check the death total
But now the monuments and museums of DC stand empty
Or they would if Covid was limited to only one city
If deaths and shortages stopped at the city limit
Then we could truly see the scale of devastation
We seem to have moved on to the question of jobs
An increase in wages for “essential workers”
And the return of low pain child labor on school nights
Sighing and shaking our heads as our eyes skim past red maps
We have moved on to more important topics.
(Meet Mago Contributor) Francesca Tronetti, Ph.D.