We Are Not All in the Same Quarantine

one of my students, a young man with a sweet voice
was homeless, alone, before COVID-19 hit
he emailed me—from where? an overcrowded shelter?
—to let me know CUNY was trying to get him a laptop
so he could finish the work in my class, please don’t worry
I told him, you’ll get a good grade regardless of the outcome

an influencer who fell ill texted a friend doctor
who conjured a test for the virus within 24 hours
she moved to her Hamptons home after learning she was positive
Instagrammed “getting fresh air” on Long Island
apologized when she was criticized for her privilege, access to tests
thousands cannot get, Nordstrom dropped its deal with her

we are not all in the same quarantine

a friend in a tiny 12X12 apartment in Times Square
has a Zoom birthday party where she gets drunk and 
talks about Tiger King and A Streetcar Named Desire
a partygoer plays “Get Lucky” and we all sit dance to 
“we’ve come too far to give up who we are”
and for a moment we all laugh with each other

Stacyann Chinn posts her indoor workouts with her daughter
who is about eight years old, full of joy, a tiny figure with fluffy hair
they giggle and slide around the living room in mismatched socks
talk about the universe, science, art, and Stacyann explains
not all kids get along with their parents, some parents hit their kids
her daughter’s face goes solemn, confused, and she asks, “But why?”

we are not all in the same quarantine

introverts have tea, choose a book from extensive collections
placed along the full length of a wall, listen to records on vinyl
play with their cat, who is snuggled next to the radiator
tinkling rain falling on the pane outside the window
groceries are delivered from Imperfect Foods, placed on the porch
the only time the introverts step outside

Amazon employees take pictures of garbage under storage shelves
in the warehouse, complain on Twitter that they don’t have protection
such as gloves, masks, or sanitizer to prevent infection
and then the on-site outbreaks begin, other workers get sick
some die, and then the protest: employees walk out
meanwhile, some of us still order “essential” items, like ping pong tables

we are not all in the same quarantine

thousands of migrant workers in India are forced to stop working
told to travel back to their home, meaning “leave the country”
at the border they are told they might have the disease, so go back
they must, walk hundreds of miles to migrant camps without
water, soap, food, or any means of life or education for their children
no one has a plan for those who might get sick in the crowded quarters

meanwhile countries like South Korea and Iceland test everyone
hire detectives to find people who might have come in contact with the virus
pay workers who must be in quarantine, deliver food to the sick
keep the outbreak numbers low and their economies in tact
yet, our own leaders question if our sick actually need ventilators, refuse to
test widely, remind everyone, we’ve done a great job, we’ve done a great job

we are not all in the same quarantine

Dr. Grisel Y. Acosta is an associate professor at the City University of New York-BCC. Her first book of poetry, Things to Pack on the Way to Everywhere, is an Andrés Montoya Poetry Prize finalist and it is forthcoming from Get Fresh Books in 2021. Recent work can be found in Best American Poetry, The Baffler, Split this Rock, Acentos Journal, Kweli Journal, Red Fez, In Full Color, Paterson Literary Review, MiPoesias, Short Plays on Reproductive Freedom, and Celebrating Twenty Years of Black Girlhood: The Lauryn Hill Reader. She is a Geraldine Dodge Foundation Poet, a Macondo Fellow, a panelist for the 2020 NYFA Poetry Fellowships, a panelist for the 2020 Rasmuson Fellowships, and the editor of Latina Outsiders Remaking Latina Identity (Routledge, 2019), an anthology that features over 30 Latinx contributors and subjects.