Poems by Susan Vidd

In the year of 2020
When life was full and plenty,
A terrible plague besieged the world
Chaos and sorrow worldwide unfurled.

In isolation and fear we dwelt
Uncertainty and confusion was what we felt;
Masking our own fears from our little ones
Masquerading the pain from our daughters and sons.

Our innocent youth confused, unaware
Of the isolation they are now forced to bear.
We are afforded the freedom to walk the street
But not close to our neighbors perchance we meet.

To retain some normalcy there came a plan
Place teddy bears in the window for children to scan.
It would help as the young ones would take a walk
To look for a teddy bear on every block.

"Look mommy, there's a pink teddy bear
And a gray one at that house with long fuzzy hair!"
And so it went on as a method to cope,
Living each day with a prayer and hope.

Now four years later 2024
Situation better but not quite like before;
My own teddy bear remains on my sill
And will be there forever or maybe until...

We remember how fragile life can be
Not take things for granted, Teddy and me!

Riding down Interstate 80
In the fall of 1971
Headed for a new life
Our marriage just begun.

Natives of Ohio;
A midland temperate state,
Iowa not all that far
And August is the date.

With limited experience
We followed down the path,
700 miles to be exact
with calculated math.

The hills had slowly diminished
Now the landscape nearly flat
No air conditioning, windows open,
I hung onto my hat!

"What is that?" we see ahead
Rows and rows of corn;
Not like that of Ohio's crops
But of a species almost foreign.

It was the largest corn ever seen.
We actually had no knowledge.
They did not teach horticulture
In the many years of college.

Eyes grow wide continuing on
I feel the sweat form beads
For among the stealthy giant corn
There also grows the weeds.

Mammoth ragweed much like the corn
Huge and swaying giants;
The winds carrying it across the plains
With little to no defiance.

There is just one bit of concern
We wish we had been aware.
Small plants of ragweed make us sick
But those behemoths - Beware!

When moving on to new adventures
A little research would be wise.
Why am I sneezing, coughing, itching
With dark circles beneath my eyes?

Hay fever, hay fever, hay fever!
The orange pollen moves through the sky.
My body attacks the common weed
believing it is awry.

The irony is a certain beauty
Even flowers are big and bold.
They are so very large, in fact,
They are a miracle to behold.