Reprinted with permission from Citizen Erased and Selected Poems by Nicholas Rafael, April 2021

Moving forward, inch by inch.
Overcoming, persevering, teetering on the brink.
The edges, the ledges, balancing life and death.
Without social interactions, what is left?
Do we call? Do we kiss? Do we shake or hug?
Keeping the distance has morphed us into bugs.
Individual colonies trapped in homes in order to be safe,
where we only focus on family throughout the day.
Some say needed,
some say dull,
but there is really only one goal,
Survival!
To flourish with least resistance,
This is how we go the distance.