There is respect
and there is that snot
dripping, wrist shaking,
stuttering, knees buckling,
heart pounding, eyelid swelling,
tears pouring, speechless
respect. The kind I have for
health workers in Liberia. They fought
the virus when the militias fought them.
They turned up when others tuned out.
George Cassidy Payne is a poet from Rochester, NY. His work has been included in such publications as the Hazmat Review, Moria Poetry Journal, Chronogram Journal, Ampersand Literary Review, The Angle at St. John Fisher College, and 3:16 Journal. George’s blogs, essays and letters have appeared in USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, Havana Times, South China Morning Post, The Buffalo News, and more.
See all his poems on Tea House here.
