Lawrence Kessenich
Watertown, Massachusetts, USA

Lawrence Kessenich won the 2010 Strokestown International Poetry prize and has had three poems nominated for Pushcart Prizes. His poetry has appeared in the Sewanee Review, Atlanta Review, Poetry Ireland Review, Comstock Review, and many other magazines. His chapbook Strange News was published in 2008 and his first full-length poetry book, Before Whose Glory, was published 2013. His third book, Age of Wonders, was published in early 2016 and his chapbook Pearl in 2017. Kessenich is the co-managing editor of Ibbbetson Street. He has also published essays, one of which was featured on NPR’s “This I Believe” and appears in the anthology This I Believe: On Love. His short plays have been produced in New York, Boston, and in Colorado, where he won the People’s Choice Award in a national drama competition. His first novel, Cinnamon Girl, was published in 2016.    

Poem completed 5th April, 2020

COVID-19 Death

Alone
in a dim
room, the machine
breathes for me

the sky
outside the window
black with rain
no wife
no children
no brothers
no sisters
no friends
allowed
Death
looms over me

tall
as an NBA player
tall
as the ceiling
tall
as the hospital
picks me 
up like a rag doll
shakes me
shakes me
shakes me