Photography © Jaime Diaz Martinez

 

The COVID Kiss
THE COVID KISS

She came to me during a plague, a knock at the door,
undone by the white winter snow,
hoarfrost and sharpened icicles on the windowpanes,
all wrapped up in a fur coat, hands in lamb gloves,
not by bus, a passenger train, or a taxi
coming over icy roads in the middle of a long night,
a rusted car, she parked by the water pier,
burning day, blotted out by the winter sun,
my love, a fait accompli, here in this room,
the Adirondack mountains peering like fortresses,
across Lake Champlain towards me,
in this January hour.
How do we reject that kiss of death and despair,
when this century is more than suffering and hardship,
a hundred years of war, liberation and solitude,
before the artist subdues the world,
with brushstrokes taking away the grit and blood,
on great streets and ancient doorsteps.
and before February comes with its slush of snow,
my beloved will kiss all those who died,
and did not live soon enough or long enough,
in this vast world where the lexicon of mystery lay,
of all that is seen in the naked eye,
that mysterious waltz of life that is a bright gray.

 

Luis Lázaro Tijerina was born in Salina, Kansas. Mr. Tijerina has a Master of Art degree in history, concentration being military history and diplomacy. He is a published author of military theory, short stories, essays and poetry. Mr. Tijerina resides in Vermont.

Jaime Diaz Martinez is originally from Los Angeles, California. He has been residing in Paris for over 30 years. AFter many years of seeing so many photo opportunities passing, he decided to pick up his camera from storage some years back and from that day on the camera has been held over his left shoulder ready to come across fleeting or ephemeral street scenes. For Martinez Being able to photograph Paris streets is a unique opportunity, a city with fifty shades of grey or just heaven. His photo pays homage to a picture taken during the Spanish Flu epidemic.

Tijerina and Martinez authored a collection, Camera Symphonica: Scores of Love, Uprisings and Pandemic, available now.