A COVID-19 poem

"Superhero"

by Leigh Pomeroy

Finally…
All the mammals, birds, amphibians and reptiles;
All the insects, fish, trees, fungi and bacteria;
All the living things of the land and sea and air —
All of them, save for one — have a new superhero
That has brought this one species to its knees,
A species that has claimed “dominion over the fish of the sea,
Over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth
And over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

Ha!

And the superhero says to this one species,
“I, for the moment, have dominion over you! Learn what it’s like
To be subjugated, ignored, dispersed and diminished;
To be commodified, minimalized, pushed aside and destroyed!”

But will this one species learn a lesson from the superhero?
Probably not.

Yet for the moment, all the other species on the earth
Can celebrate their new superhero.