My dearest friend and circle sister Linda Merryman has set up an altar to make “real” in some way all those who are dying from Covid 19. We all hear the numbers and they pass through our intellect. Linda has put the numbers into form, a ship of souls lost to Covid. This pandemic has taken so much from so many. I deeply appreciate my friend who has so poignantly brought her artistic eye in putting together an altar that responds to the ocean breeze to carry our prayers for those who have died and prayers for those who remain and are coping with their grief of loss. Thank you Linda.
-Justine Willis Toms
Above is a photo of her continued commemoration of those who have passed.
A Scorpionic weirdo
I am
Or is there something to this
personal death altar
in the middle of our house?
I need it to remember why
this liminal space.
Nov 1st (Dia de los Muertos)
The old black barque
Flying The Covid Flag
set sail
with 150,000 souls.
Like a counter
on a stop watch
I add the banners to
the barque
4 months later
540,000 are on board.
Prayer flags fly
Angels guard
Blue granite wind chimes tinkle from the mast
A ghost ship of the newly departed.
“Sorry about the sacrifices”
Covid says,
“But you wouldn’t have slowed down
If I hadn’t been deadly.
It takes a lot to
Stop the world.
Just hoping
You are
Treasuring this time.
Look inside
And outside
And make sure
You get
What you need
to make the change.”
Loss
Light
Love
The Sacrificed,
The Special Ones
Dying alone
Are Voyaging together.
Out over the ocean
The Great Mother
offers her outstretched arms
rocking each passenger
as they arrive
and settle in.
“Well done, she says,
“rest now, take a breath.”
By Linda Merryman
