Playground / 231 W. Linn St. by Michele Mekel

Playground

The recently deceased line up

for games. First, red rover,

then dodgeball.

 

But it’s just not the same,

passing through one another—

no friction, no pain.

 

231 W. Linn St.

 

Like a bellows,

doors, windows

open, close

breathing ghostly life

into this tired house.

 

Restless,

these specters abide

long dead, side-long spied

in halls, along floors

I now pace.

Michele Mekel wears many hats: bioethicist, educator, poetess, cat herder, witch, and woman. Her work appears in academic and creative publications, and has been featured on Garrison Keillor’s The Writer’s Almanac, nominated for Best of the Net, and translated into Cherokee. She is co-principal investigator of Viral Imaginations: COVID-19 (viralimaginations.psu.edu).