Beth and I are wearing masks
and, as can happen on the subway,
the unmasked man across the aisle
raises his voice to everyone
in the car to tell us that wearing masks
and getting vaccines just shows
we’re brainwashed by the “slime”
of lies told by the government
and the media. We’ve been tricked
into believing all kinds of fictions.
“Take the sun,” he says, his voice
rising. “Yes, take the goddamned sun.
You’re telling me you can see something
that’s ninety-three million miles away?
Anyone who thinks for himself knows
his eyes can’t see that far! You’d need
a Hubble, though that Hubble’s
just another made-up lie. Anyone
who’s reasonable and thinks for himself
knows he’s not seeing the sun. Read
your Plato and stop looking up
at the useless sky. Don’t listen
to those swindlers that are telling you
any different. And stop going along
with the idea that something invisible
can make you sick. Or just go ahead.
I don’t give a damn. Why would anyone
give a damn? You’re all just pathetic!”
As we leave the train, we don’t dare
wish him well—what would he do?—
though we want to. Beth and I wear
our masks the two blocks home.
It’s a gloomy afternoon, light rain.
And the first thing I do in the door
is—trusting the internet—open my laptop
to look up the diameter of the sun.
Then how much light the sun gives off—
enough, I’m told, to leave you blind.
William Aarnes lives in New York. He worries about what the conservative response to COVID has done to our thinking about public health. And yesterday his appointment to get a COVID booster was cancelled because the pharmacy had yet to receive its supply.