several specimens of small fervent campers gathered together in a frame and grooving with a bick

by Zev Levinson

— for Michael Bickford who kept us dancing in the days of COVID-19.  With a nod to

                 Pink Floyd’s “Several Species of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together in a Cave

                and Grooving with a Pict”

Ay the mainframe fails

And we flail in isolation

Physical pandemical unprecedentical

Ne’er knowing thing beyond these walls

Yet networked more than e’er

In strange zoomscopic connectivity

Though we glitch get muted

Talk o’er each other wot password

Campers bereft of camp crave love

And song DJ Bick swoop in

New mutation dance party take requests

Lost Coasters local and afar

Now bizarro gathered tic-tac-toe-like

On home screens and meandering phones

Receive curated playlist groove strong

Torsos shake life depends schizophrenic desperation

Jen and me cottage doors flung

To dusk great cabinet Altec Lansing speakers

Blare tune of time and olden goldies

Neighbors perked to sudden blast

From heretofore silent cottage in swale

Laughter sweep our hearts

Sweat mingles cross distance

Eternal return to howl my clan

Photo of Zev Levinson

BIO: Zev Levinson is the author of Song of Six Rivers and The Sauntering.  He teaches with California Poets in the Schools, has taught at Humboldt State University and College of the Redwoods, is a Redwood Writing Project teacher-consultant, and a founder of the Lost Coast Writers Retreat.  See ZevLev.com