Helping Me Into the Newness

When we thought it was just a cold,
before anyone knew there was such a thing
as COVID pushing its way into the world,
my coughing sent my man out of the room;
but my little beast Max evolved from
feline to angel saint.

He couldn’t look away from my gasps,
laying by my side all night, looking at me,
letting his eyes carry the warmth and care
of ancestors long gone, rubbing my cheek
with his nose, putting his paw on my arm
when I must have looked frightened,
starting to realize that something big
was taking me to places I’d never been.

When I didn’t know if I could dig deep enough
to find enough breath to go on,
he gave himself.
Laying both paws on my side,
he raised his head up as though he could
see through the ceiling. He started speaking
with his mouth open, looking as though
he was trying to speak to heaven
in a tongue of sounds I couldn’t know.

I was calmed, and I began to believe
I was going to make it through the night.

Forthwith

ATTENTION! ATTENTION!

At noon today everyone’s
superpower will be in full operation

the gift you have each been given
will be apparent for all to see

you will instantly be at the top
of your abilities in your field

one you perhaps didn’t even know
was growing in the chains of your DNA

you may be the new
Maya Angelou or Einstein

this new enthusiasm will
create sparks flying
off beings everywhere

as they rush to use their new instruments
with purpose made from wonder
full of right, with no room for wrong

we will know exactly how to help
everyone reach their delicious potential

Susan Shea is a retired school psychologist who grew up in Brooklyn, New York and now lives in a forest in Pennsylvania.  She returned to writing poetry three years ago, and since then her poems have been published in or are now forthcoming in Chiron Review, ONE ART, The RavensPerch,  Cloudbank,  Ekstasis, MacQueen’s Quinterly, Green Silk Journal, The Write Launch, Across the Margin, October Hill Magazine, Litbreak Magazine, Poemeleon, Beltway Poetry, Foreshadow, The Loch Raven Review, and others. Within the last few months one of her poems was nominated for Best of the Net by Cosmic Daffodil, and three poems were nominated for a Pushcart Prize by Umbrella Factory Magazine..