when the impossible happens

at this time, or around this time, 

last year i was watching the chinese gov't 

building a hospital in wuhan to combat the virus

i was asked if i worried that the virus, which i 

think didn't yet have a name, would leap the 

borders & harm the united states of america

such is my ignorance & arrogance 

for within a couple of months 

it was clear that the virus was here

& the first case of community spread

was being treated at uc davis hospital

a mere mile or so from my house

then the eastern seaboard was hard hit

cities like nyc was under lockdown

& i remember the moment when i knew

the world had changed into something 

we still have no name for 

it was march & i was walking 

home from work pass the golden 1 arena 

where a kings game was set to play

thousands of fans were outside the grounds

& i thought that i would no way want to be 

indoors at a basketball game with a virus 

beginning its community spread

i was texting john b-r who told me that 

tom hanks & rita wilson tested positive

& the NBA cancelled all basketball contests

every person at the golden 1 arena had to 

go home without watching the game

& that the insulation that i was taught 

as a child that protected the united states from harm 

was permanently punctured 

never again to be repaired back in place

i felt that there is always a moment 

in our lives where we thought the 

impossible can't happen 

like war famine & disease

that moment when the impossible

ceases to be impossible 

& becomes inevitable

& i fear that is where we are 

in the united states 

the insulation has burst

& we wait in fear & wonder  

what the outside might drag indoors