Today I laughed for fifteen minutes straight
Because my girlfriend said “Oh my dear lord!”
In a high voice. I don’t know if we’re bored
And finding new ways to procrastinate,
Or if the mounting stress of the long wait
For the return of “normal life” has gnawed
A hole in both our sanities. We’ve roared
And hooted at the mildest jokes. What state
Will we be in when quarantine is over?
Our own idioglossia of jokes
Our only form of real communication:
I fear that we will never quite recover
And when we meet again with other folks,
Be spurned, and then return to isolation.
Tom Juniper Poetry 