Valerie David

THE CORONAVIRUS & METASTATIC CANCER SPOKEN WORD POETRY

During the plague, the Bard wrote King Lear,
But livin’ with the virus, let me be clear,
Good for you Willy, but I’m just livin’ in fear,

Do I have a fever, or do I feel dizzy?
Corona’s got me crazy, livin’ in a tizzy,
What does that mean? Am I carryin’ the virus?
Am I on the wrecking ball with Miley Cyrus?

I had breast cancer, stage IV, metastatic,
Trying to keep the head noise out, I’m a germaphobe fanatic,
Say what? Bodega’s hand sanitizer $12 dollars?
“Hell, rather get COVID, ain’t payin’ that,” I holler,

Forget about COVID, will my breast cancer return?
Have a Zoom funeral, then stick me in an urn,
I can’t take facin’ death from two diseases,
The anxiety is constant and never eases,
I had lymphoma, but I beat that,
But will my luck hold out, that’s where I’m at?
Can’t believe this quarantine,
Nothin’ I’d expect to ever be seen,

Not happy bein’ in a high-risk group,
Need more than Grandma’s magic chicken soup,
Waitin’ for a vaccine, or the antidote,
Feel I’m locked in a castle, surrounded by a moat,

Seeing deaths climb, tryin’ to flatten the curve,
If you don’t wear a mask, you got some nerve,
You’re putting us at risk, don’t be hangin’ around me,
Why you so blind to this, making death for free?

How ’bout the weight gain stayin’ home, gym closin’, I’m sedentary,
While torturing myself, watching the remake of Pet Cemetery,
And afraid my poor eatin’ will awaken the cancer beast,
As I up my nightly sugar intake, partaking in a sweets feast,
At 2 am, I eat the leftover Easter Cadbury crème eggs,
And wonder why I got this belly and tree trunk legs,

Passover, I am supposed to be pious, give up leavened bread,
But ain’t no time for Matzoh, scarfin’ baguettes instead,
My neighborhood shut down on the West Side, Upper; pizza, Subway, takeout Chinese, that’s left for a supper,
It’s a ghost town like a scene in the old wild west, so take heed, Walk down Broadway, soon you’ll be seein’ tumble weed,

I don’t have Netflix, Starz or Hulu,
Don’t want to spend money, or my savings I will blow through,
Stores empty of toilet paper and paper towels,
Feel as deprived as Gilligan Island’s Thurston, the 3rd, Howell,

What’s all the fuss over Tiger King and that big murderous row,
When the only real King is Martin Luther who says,
“We may have all come on different ships,
but we're in the same boat now”,

7 pm we celebrate the brave workers, banging pots and clappin’,
But there’s a rise in domestic violence and all of that new slappin’,
I’m in bed by 3 am, that’s when my day is through,
My buggin’ eyes still open, ’til the rooster’s cocka doodle do,

COVID you’ve taken so many, leave alone legends Betty White and Sidney Poitier,
Please spare another, Singer Harry Belafonte,
Day-o, Day-o, Daylight come and me wan' go home,
Not me Harry, I want to go out and roam,

I miss someone holding me at night,
Caressing my thinning hair, telling me everything’s gonna be all right.
Missing my mom and dad, that’s really bringing me down,
No longer mind being grounded, havin’ that party when they was out of town,

Looking down a barrel of that corona gun,
Yearnin’ for that special person to just watch the setting sun,
People are hurtin’, cryin’ and waitin’ on the bread lines,
Like my grandparents did, we’re back in 1929,

So I plea with the US government, “Quit your bickering now”,
Find a solution to get us through it, get back to normal somehow,
Receivin' the stimulus check was a noble gesture, how nice,
But that dried up quick, we need more sugar and spice,

Now we have a movement to stop the abuse,
Black Lives Matter, voices heard, no longer obtuse
So many killed like Taylor and Floyd,
’Cause of cell video, those guilty mmm, mmm justice you can’t avoid,
Every life has value, deservin’ of peaceful livin’
No more hurtin’…no more of this sinning’

Let’s come together in unity and hope,
I am tired of sittin’ around, where all I do is mope,
But I’m The Pink Hulk from surviving cancer times three,
I am a fighter, cancer smash, it continues to be,

To conquer the coronavirus is our global endeavor,
In this together, we will fight this forever,
No more hospital morgues and funeral homes overflowin’,
No more death toll, let’s keep it from growin’,

Stop COVID-19 and all them murders,
Lock up all those who are serial hurters,
Inspired by the Reality Poet Gods,
Nothin’ more powerful in how they beat the odds,
We’ll win in the end—don’t think that’s wrong,
We’re the Big Apple, and we’re all global strong!

Check out Valerie’s website Here