Masks & Lilies

Masked like a bandit, my gaze undoes
The rules of yesterday’s child. 
Sweetness with bones and muscle unclenched –
Who knew Easter lilies’ mad scent
Was more than a match for precaution?

Two things occurred this week. First, my grocery store distributed face masks to all employees. Second, my grocery store received a huge shipment of Easter lilies. Now we all look like bandits, and the lilies are stacked in piles of jungle amid cases of water, pallets of dog food and essentials like ramen and toilet paper. 

The world feels a bit muted with a mask to filter out the store’s aromas. I usually navigate the place by my nose: cheese, coffee, bread, blood, cardboard, guavas, cleaning supplies. They all tell me something, new secrets each day. Now I keep my own secrets behind a couple layers of blue material. It turns out the lilies’ earthy musk is one of the few scents that can make it through – and it puts a secret grin on my face every time I catch it in passing.