Joyful Noise

For health care workers, first responders
firefighters, food deliverers, officers of peace

For hospital hotel workers, crisis carers, city officials
teachers, students, janitors scrubbing every surface in silent schools

For spirit distillers turned to making sanitizer
For car wrecking shops manufacturing masks

For coffee shops that feed the needy
supermarkets with the dots that show safe distance

For empty parks and squirrels turned unusually brave
For joggers who step into the street to pass me

For all my friends and family and neighbors huddled in their homes
For my city struggling toward a summer full of doubt

I stand on my front porch and ring a joyful knell
on a copper-bottomed stockpot temple bell.

Available! High-Voltage Lines, Knocking from Inside