GLOOM IS SEEPING IN UNDER THE TAPED AND SEALED DOORS...

Fell asleep early the night of the trumpeted, bright orange nightmare

But woke up in the dark, around 11:15, I think....

And, in my mind replayed “store water, three days food, duct tape, and plastic sheeting.”

So, I got up, went to the bathroom, and Monty stirred and turned off the TV.

Wide-awake now.  Wasn’t sure if I’d heard it or dreamed it,  

but spent the  mind-busy,  surreal night trying to reconstruct

what I was being called to do with the duct tape stuck there in my mind -

An unexplained tool in the operating room, the interrogation cellar.

Finally, drifting in and out of sleep…

Dreaming of protecting my grandkids, guardians of my immortality.

But, still uneasy about the possibility of  trumped up threats,

Remembering “duck and cover,” fall-out shelters, and the coming of the apocalypse.