“Versions”

c. 2020 Rod Ice

All rights reserved

(3-20)

For this writer, being a ‘news junkie’ has come naturally. From the family habit of browsing through newspapers and magazines at our kitchen table, or getting real-time reports through radio and television. I have always liked to stay connected.

The recent global pandemic has furiously redefined life on our planet. But when viewed through the lens of various news organizations, the story has been different in tone. Sometimes, the most useful perspective comes not from domestic channels with popular ‘opinion’ hosts, but instead from a foreign source. Thus, my Roku stream has been invaluable, providing coverage from the United Kingdom. A valued alternative to our own particular slant.

What follows here are not literal examples but paraphrased bits of prose:

Coronavirus -

CNN: “Today, President Trump deepened the chasm opened by his ignorance as our nation’s chief executive. A circus trick he continues to perform each day as the pandemic worsens.”

FOX NEWS: “President Trump’s leadership in this time of crisis has continued to be extraordinary. Like Lincoln or Roosevelt or Ronald Reagan, he is keeping a steady hand steering our ship of state.”

SKY NEWS: “In America, Dr. Anthony Fauci has become a trusted figure for those seeking to understand the Coronavirus. A voice of reason.”

Stimulus -

CNN: “President Trump has one priority, to bail out his corporate pals. The welfare of regular Americans will sadly be neglected.”

FOX NEWS: “President Trump puts America first and families first. His opponents put politics first.”

SKY NEWS: “Americans officially reject socialism, but will once again embrace a government rescue of their economy.”

Faith -

CNN: “During the pandemic, gathering for worship is risky behavior. Americans need to put their faith in science.”

FOX NEWS: “During the pandemic, gathering for worship is needed more than ever to bolster the American spirit.”

SKY NEWS: “Technology means that persons of faith can worship via internet connections. Another wrinkle in the habit of using social media platforms.”

The 2020 Election -

CNN: (To be continued.)

FOX NEWS: (To be continued.)

SKY NEWS: “Americans will vote in the fall, but seemingly in an election that has all but disappeared from their notice. In this age of ‘social distancing’ citizens in the United States have become very much separated from the idea of picking their leader for the next four years.”

Climate Change -

CNN: “Perhaps even more frightening than the Coronavirus is the global threat our environment faces. This has been neglected by Republicans in general, and President Trump, specifically.”

FOX NEWS: “The hoax of climate change continues to ring hollow in our heartland.”

SKY NEWS: “World leaders speak to each other. Greta Thunberg speaks to the world.”

Sports -

CNN: “Americans miss basketball.”

FOX NEWS: “Americans miss baseball.”

SKY NEWS: “The world will fret while waiting another year to meet at the Olympics.”

Toilet Paper -

CNN: “Panic has caused hoarding. The American people need better leadership to calm their nerves.”

FOX NEWS: “Our supply chain remains strong. Stores run out of product only to have shelves restocked quickly. It is the miracle of capitalism at work.”

SKY NEWS: “Americans have plenty of bath tissue but not enough masks or ventilators. A perplexing situation across the big pond.”

China -

CNN: “President Trump’s use of the term ‘Chinese Virus’ remains troubling.”

FOX NEWS: “President Trump has rightly identified China as the source of COVID-19 and will continue to speak his mind.”

SKY NEWS: “The pandemic is now worldwide. It’s point of origin has no literal importance.”

Social Distancing -

CNN: “Americans should heed the direction of New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and stay apart from each other during this crisis.”

FOX NEWS: “Americans should heed the direction of President Trump and stay apart from each other, but it is difficult for a free-spirited nation to take orders. It is not in our DNA as a people.

SKY NEWS: “As with many other situations, the Coronavirus seems to be ignored by some people in the U. S. A. as they refuse to practice keeping a standard amount of distance between each other. The result will be obvious and catastrophic.”

Partisanship -

CNN: “Americans can’t help feeling disappointed that the Republican Party has not put aside partisan concerns in this time of crisis.”

FOX NEWS: “Americans can’t help feeling disappointed that the Democratic Party has not put aside partisan concerns in this time of crisis.”

SKY NEWS: “Many Americans have shown more concern over Quarterback Tom Brady leaving the New England Patriots than learning how to properly wash their hands.”

Comments about ‘Words on the Loose’ may be sent to: icewritesforyou@gmail.com

Write us at: P. O. Box 365 Chardon, OH 44024

“Pandemic Panic”

c. 2020 Rod Ice

All rights reserved

(3-20)

For a creative writer, every situation brings cause to put pen to paper. Every challenge moves us to type out lines of prose. To tell stories. To live through a stream-of-consciousness given life in words. So with the Coronavirus loose and among us in North America, I was moved to reflect on the habits of a contact from the bygone Davie Allan Fan Group online. He was a relic of the hippie era, given to wild imagery and free-flowing language that seemed to express a perspective the rest of us could only try to imagine. I learned from his shared messages, frequently wandering trips through the verbal cosmos.

He was known by the unlikely moniker of ‘Boobie.’

While trying to find useful inspiration from the chaos of this virus, I sat at my computer and let this distant muse speak in otherworldly whispers. With encouragement given like kisses from a parent.

The result follows here:

Coronavirus challenge

Waves from Hades

Sinking, submerged, beneath the foam

We are all alone

One and done

Quarantine is no fun

No sports

No nights at the bar

Close the liquor stores

Not here but next door

Lay off the downtown whores

The ones who skim from stock market trades

Satan, not today!

Market index in the tank

We have a virus to thank

My friends are where I am

Drinking warm beer

Eating dinner from a can

Watching reruns of ‘The Sopranos’

Nowhere to go

Everything is closed

Except for the supermarket space

Where hoarders strip the shelves

Buy toilet paper by the case

Pandemic panic

To arms!

Testing not touching

Chloroquine drops

The trading stops

When doctors speculate

That it comes too late

Harlequin hops

Antiseptic mops

Directives from the CDC

Absolution from our sins

A prayer we deploy

A balm for the hoi polloi

Let the press release read

There was much concern

From Illinois

Bulletin: Maintain your distance!

Six feet, if you please

Keep away, you from me

Fear and frenzy

A yowl of injured souls

Goes loudly toward the sky

Be careful friends

Wash your hands

Do not die

Bulletin: Stay at home!

Be together, alone!

SARS CoV-2

For me and you

Let the invisible invader find no comfort

No transport

Being carried on your flesh

Society is a mess

Jamming groceries in their carts

Standing 72 inches apart

Art Bell is on the air

An undead voice from beyond

East of the Rockies

West of the Rockies

On your BayGen, Freeplay radio

Caller, you may go

Say a prayer for the sick

Coughing up the debris

Of excess

We have met the enemy

They are we

Written like a movie script

With the hero in a pit

Thrashing, gnashing teeth

But with redemption, complete

Mere pages away

It lifts the spirit, they say

This epic fight

To go boldly

Into the good night

COVID-19

The perpetual data-stream

Plugged in

Connected

From damnation, protected

Ritual washing of hands

A cleansing act

For every man

Whole wheat, sourdough and challah

Jesus, Buddah and Allah

Old habits die hard

With us marching in the yard

Masks in place

Pleading silently for heavenly grace

For deliverance from the beast

Which we have released

A name on the Lysol can

Conspiracy

Theories written in all caps

Keyboard taps

Wild in the head

Choosing nonsense instead

Cult of personality

Oaths taken

From Ashtabula to Interlaken

We have put down the seed

Which brought us, humbled, to this crisis of need

Boldness, arrogance

Waving banners

For media moguls

And social planners

For movers and shakers

And birthday cake bakers

Priests

Poets

Pundits

Prophets

Poppycock-pushers

Pressure

Pills

Pandemic yield

Bodies in the field

A generation marked

Tattooed in the dark

We won’t soon forget

That God put us to the test

We the loud children

Wailing at the gates

Like outcast beggars who came to the throne

A moment too late

Dressed in rags

With dirty feet

Suddenly gone silent

Time to pay the rent

Amen

I reckon that our friend Boobie must be busy with his own lyrical analysis of the Coronavirus. For reporters of news around the globe, it has represented a ‘call to arms’ unseen since the Second World War. But for us of a more creative bent, it has opened a portal to self-care and awareness that is undeniably useful in helping to preserve the human spirit inside ourselves.

Comments about ‘Words on the Loose’ may be sent to: icewritesforyou@gmail.com

Write us at: P. O. Box 365 Chardon, OH 44024

“Coronavirus Changes”

c. 2020 Rod Ice

All rights reserved

(3-20)

The Coronavirus pandemic has reshaped our habits with frightening rapidity. It has upset norms long accepted by most societies across the globe. Yet its effect on our language has been just as dramatic. While writers everywhere work to create the prose that will describe this shift, they grapple with terms that have become fluid in nature.

Yesterday and today look very different from our current perspective. Tomorrow beckons with unknown challenges. But all of these words fail to evoke the sheer sense that we have entered a new and uncertain age. One with a kind of connectivity unknown to those who endured the worldwide Spanish Flu outbreak in 1918. Or to those sturdy souls who survived the ‘Great Depression.’

What follows here are a few examples of modern terminology, redefined:

Hand Washing, Before – A good habit, taught by responsible parents and adults, but too often ignored by regular folk.

Hand Washing, After – A ritual to be performed regularly as a defense against the Coronavirus. Accompanied by song, if needed, to mark the proper amount of time.

Going Viral, Before – A term often used to describe a video or story viewed many times over via the internet. An achievement to be celebrated.

Going Viral, After – Catching the sickness.

Social Distancing, Before – Being aloof. Out of the community. Willingly absent from society or banished from the same. Marked by fate. Viewed with a measure of suspicion.

Social Distancing, After – A participant in the plan. Sacrificing for the greater good.

Shelter in Place, Before – Finding a safe location during a crisis or hazardous situation. Remaining there until given an ‘all clear’ assurance from authorities.

Shelter in Place, After – A necessary strategy to slow the spread of the Coronavirus. Though the term has been disavowed by some, like New York Governor Andrew Cuomo. A necessary separation from others. Willful surrender of physical closeness.

Panic, Before – Outlandish and crazy behavior. A sign of weakness. Or fear.

Panic, After – Chaos as a result of uncertainty. Buying copious amounts of consumer goods, like bath tissue. To the point that the supply-chain itself is depleted and a factor in causing further unrest. Hoarding items while others are forced to go without. Runs on banks and ATM locations. Stockpiling fuel and weapons.

Wartime, Before – Battling a foreign adversary. Or a terrorist group. Maintaining military and police defenses to preserve order.

Wartime, After – Battling an unseen force. A virus spreading worldwide, with alarming ease. Facing the challenge of preserving unity by spreading ourselves apart from one another. Gathering resources to treat those who have been stricken.

Self-Quarantine, Before – A necessary precaution, when dealing with sickness.

Self-Quarantine, After – A strategy being used all over the globe with those who have tested positive for the Coronavirus.

Isolation, Before – An unnatural condition for human beings. A social vacuum that tests our ability to cope and survive. A tactic used to punish inmates in a correctional system, or prisoners during war.

Isolation, After – A necessary method to halt the Coronavirus. One that carries drastic side-effects of alienation and loneliness. Or, for some, a chance to focus on the inner self and religious traditions.

Lockdown, Before – Punishment. A loss of liberty.

Lockdown, After – A path toward stopping the fury of this pandemic. Temporary surrender of free movement and free will.

Social Media, Before – Platforms for interaction and disseminating information. Also, a conduit for gossip and ‘fake news.’ A two-headed serpent of sorts, both good and bad by nature.

Social Media, After – A way to remain in touch without touching.

Sanitizer, Before – Something able to clean and disinfect.

Sanitizer, After – Like gold. A valued commodity in this new age of crisis.

Risk/Reward, Before – Pondering investment strategies. Buying a home or a car. Business planning.

Risk/Reward, After – Deciding whether to open your front door. Choosing trips to the supermarket. Avoiding possible exposure to the virus. Or the unintended transfer of sickness to others with compromised immune systems.

Partisanship, Before – A political habit that has us constantly in combat with each other over the supremacy of our team. Tribalism. Habitual divisiveness.

Partisanship, After – Dangerous and damning behavior. Literally a suicidal impulse with such a threat looming over everyone.

This mandatory pause offers time to reflect on the gift of life, love and fellowship. Even as we strive to preserve our neighborhoods and our world, each of us faces this moment in sharper focus. As we consider that the gift of being could vanish so quickly, there is a greater sense that what we possess in our existence is valuable above all else.

A world of things and money is hollow and dead. This global challenge reminds us of that truism. Yet one fashioned from kinship and familial love shines brightly even under dark clouds of crisis like the Coronavirus.

Comments about ‘Words on the Loose’ may be sent to: icewritesforyou@gmail.com

Write us at: P. O. Box 365 Chardon, OH 44024

“Comfortably Numb”

c. 2020 Rod Ice

All rights reserved

(3-20)

MTV.

Not something I considered to be part of the cataract experience.

When pondering my initial visit to the Kellis Eye & Laser Center in Chardon, many things crowded my mind-space for attention. Memories of being fitted with glasses for the first time, in Virginia. I was 12 years old. Persistent recollections of various stages in my evolution from a nearsighted child, to an adult with nagging vision limitations. Thoughts of going without corrective lenses altogether, in New York, when I was without medical insurance, homeless, and in a period of uncertain fate. Echoes of regular visits to optical specialists who fitted new eyewear and proclaimed good vision for another annual period.

One thing remained constant during this march from youth to maturity. I could not see very well without help. Everyone in the Ice household suffered from myopia.

As I reached my 40s this family curse of nearsightedness had begun to shrink my world. Over and again I realized that outside my familiar zone of comfort, things were blurred beyond recognition. Genuine sight came with a bit of cunning involved. I could not literally see, but deduced shapes, colors and locations based on my previous experiences. Often, this habit worked well enough. Sometimes though, it left me fumbling in the dark. Looking foolish and lost.

I started to feel disoriented in large, open spaces.

This blur of sight and senses soon had me avoiding travel, unconsciously. Especially after daylight had disappeared. I stopped taking trips beyond my neighborhood. Driving to work was sufficient. I did shopping at the supermarket where I was a salaried manager. Otherwise, my space to roam remained small. I became used to missing scores during sporting events. My TV screen often looked as if the tuner was broken. I became friendly with my cellphone as the computer proved to be a chore to operate. In summer months, I rarely reached for a pair of sunglasses. Often, I needed a flashlight to find things around the house.

This state of constant sunset frequently left me feeling drunk.

After being nudged into retirement at 55, I fell out of personal circulation. A hermit of sorts, content to walk my Black Lab and share summer fires with the neighbors. When both parents struggled toward the limits their own mortality, I made each journey only with a co-pilot on duty. Never alone. It had been years since I could read a street sign or highway marker. Fortunately, I knew the way after much repetition. Someone always offered guidance if I happened to get off our intended path.

An old adage said “The devil is in the details.” For me, such details were very difficult to discern, indeed. I had guessed my way through life, like a competitor lobbing darts. Usually on target, with luck. But sometimes completely off the board. Finally, after wandering into deeper hues of night, age brought me to a point of introspection. Looking into a mirror failed to reveal my plight. Instead, I needed assistance from someone who could peer at the sighted-self within. A doctor more skilled than those who routinely sold me lenses and frames, with a hint of disappointment.

I asked for counsel from my primary care provider, Dr. Mikhail.

My visit to the specialist she recommended in Geneva began as had all the other encounters, since my first with Dr. Lotano in 1973. I expected to endure a variety of optical tests, recite letters and numbers from charts on the wall, and receive a new prescription. Hopefully one dispensed with an extra measure of skill. I wanted my relief to last more than six months. The unexpected limit of what I received at a megacenter during my last vision appointment. I pondered choosing yet another set of frames while waiting in the exam chair. But then, the course of my ocular health changed drastically for the better.

“Rodney, you are wasting money on glasses,” Dr. Drought proclaimed. “Your problem is cataracts! Has this been an issue in the family?”

I could barely breathe.

“Dad was approximately 52 when he had the surgery,” I testified. “Somewhere in the early 1980’s. He had complained of seeing a halo around street lights and multiple images after dark. This became worse in the rain. A vexing problem as Mom did not drive.”

He smiled with authority. “Cataracts, my friend. You have all the classic symptoms. Get them removed and you’ll see ten times better than today!”

The optometrist referred me to Kellis.

I had no clues about the necessary procedures, except for good reports from a neighbor who had just visited the same clinic for vision help. My concept of treatment came from a blend of family tales and television dramas. But when my day for the first surgery arrived, it came with a hint of movie glitz and festive images in motion. I had only a light anesthetic and was still awake. Visible was a purple background, and two white rectangles often described by other patients as ‘Chiclets.’ In addition, a flow of various colors and transitioning shapes.

In a moment of childlike wonder, I observed that the experience reminded me of a video on MTV in the classic era. Something akin to watching a clip accompanied by Pink Floyd as the music soundtrack.

Dr. Johnson and the team must have been amused by this candid comment. During the second procedure, a few days later, they played a recording of ‘Comfortably Numb’ while my surgery was performed. A perfect touch. Quietly, I wished the visual could have somehow been captured, to share with others. But it was an experience unique for myself. One to be treasured, always.

After having the cataracts removed, the first sensation filling my head was one of pure energy. Of sunlight in all its glory and power. I had not truly felt the kiss of a sunrise in many years. The morning brightness through my kitchen window was intense. A celebration. One I beheld in silence almost as if I were a worshiper in a religious context.

I could see again!

I lingered on memories of that first burst of clarity, when I was 12 years old. An entry into living with focused sight for the first time. Now, my lost vision had been found again, through the magic of medical science and technology.

And a bit of old-school MTV.

Comments about ‘Words on the Loose’ may be sent to: icewritesforyou@gmail.com

Write us at: P. O. Box 365 Chardon, OH 44024