Sociophobia

Posted on 2020/04/23 by Bartholomew Barker

For today’s prompt, take the phrase “Social (blank),” replace the blank with a word or phrase, make the new phrase the title of your poem, and then, write your poem.

grocery-store-2619380_1280.jpg
Sociophobia

Even before social distancing
if I saw someone from work
as I entered a grocery aisle
I would reverse direction

like an all-star running back
and head for the next gap
even if I liked my co-worker—
I just wouldn’t feel like chatting.

These days, any human elicits
the same reaction. Even a woman
in a summer dress with a sexy
mask evokes visceral fear.

Once this plague has passed,
and it some point it will,
will I be able to return
to being merely anti-social?

About Bartholomew Barker

Bartholomew Barker is one of the organizers of Living Poetry, a collection of poets and poetry lovers in the Triangle region of North Carolina. Born and raised in Ohio, studied in Chicago, he worked in Connecticut for nearly twenty years before moving to Hillsborough where he makes money as a computer programmer to fund his poetry habit.
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6 Responses to Sociophobia

  1. Cassa Bassa says:
    2020/04/23 at 20:49

    Haha we introverts 😃

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  2. Lisa Tomey says:
    2020/04/24 at 06:11

    Excellent poem. It flows well.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

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