The New Normal

and its confusing linguistic consequences

She says Hi at the checkout,
no idea who she is;
I like your mask, she says.
never been good with masks,
outside of Venice,
or a spa.
Did you make it yourself?
Struggling to match voice to eyebrows, I say,
There’s a seamstress in Oliveira,
the heart on my sleeve in a pickle.

How long does it take to forget
people’s faces?
How long for
the word face
to become obsolete?
Some day we may have to swap face for mask
in every sentence and phrase.
When you buy three you get one free,
I add but she's already turned,
masking this week's special offers.

When we meet mask to mask,
does that fly in the mask of
being at ease with the face behind?
If you mask the music,
speak your truth to someone’s mask,
will it mean the same?
What if someone suffers loss of mask,
shows a naked face in public,
would they be able to save mask
by pulling a mask and avoid maskial recognition?

I look at the masks
over faces,
pushing trolleys through the aisles.
On the mask of wearing invisible masks,
in public, at work, or in love,  
being offered a mask for free,
seems only square and fair.
While everyone puts a brave mask on it,
human faces drop off the mask of the earth
in the mask of the new normal.