Closure

which my friend and inspiration, Constance, referred to once as a mythical country.

She was talking about grief and the expectations around how to "manage" it. At this moment, it means something else: closed schools (I'm off work starting Monday and through the end of March) and workplaces, cancelled concerts and sports events, temporarily shuttered businesses. If this goes on much longer, there will be permanent closures. Most small businesses live on a pretty thin profit margin, and a few weeks of reduced custom could drive them under.

And of course, the idiots and xenophobes running what we currently call our government are trying to close our borders to more and more people.

In spite of all this, it doesn't feel like "closure." It feels more like a door opening to a future uncertain and terrible. COVID-19 is a pretty rough beast, but it would be so much weaker without the stupidity and hatred that have been swirling in this widening gyre.

Available! High-Voltage Lines, Knocking from Inside