Poetry by Marissa Alvarez

              Konstantin Leonov | GON CC



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​Crowns & Blue Ribbons

welcome to the County Fair
ignore the flies around your hair
here's your ticket, take a ramble
that you're here shows you gamble

our Council sure can spin a yarn
so do si do 'round the barn
they say the outlook sure is rosy
but they've pockets full of posy

enjoy some crafts & some funnel cake
more of this isolation we cannot take
we're not waiting to vaccinate the masses
we're pretending the pandemic passed us

ropin'? ridin'? what's your pleasure?
6 feet or more?! don't worry or measure
don't bother with the face apparel
it's only the sick or brown lives in peril

have a listen to our maskless chorus
we don't believe in coronavirus
but we'll keep mentioning herd immunity
and shouting we value family & community

though you'll see us frown if we hear you coughin'
hey what word rhymes with coffin? 
don't you dare cancel our privilege culture
can't imagine what brought the turkey vultures

step up to the cotton candy booth
we fill our bellies with alternative truth
nevermind equine next to bovine & swine
our corona caramel apple is divine

don't bother with 70% alcohol
have a visit to the taffy stall
we'll thump our bibles & brandish a gun
we can't last 40 days without some fun

quarantine got us pissed
we know more than an epidemiologist
so enjoy a corn dog & admire a quilt
hug your friends free of guilt

now the Fair is done, you're off to bed
& in 3 weeks if you should wind up dead
we'll remind you with all civility
in the words of not-my-president we take no responsibility


By Dec 23, 2020 more than 54,000 Latino Americans died of COVID-19 CDC COVID Tracking Project
By Dec 22, 2020 more than 50,000 Black Americans died of COVID-19 COVID Racial Data Tracker
By Feb 4, 2021 1 in every 475 Native Americans died of COVID-19 APM Research Lab

                                            This poem is dedicated to my 3 cousins who did not survive.


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Marissa Alvarez is a Chicana poet with multiple chronic conditions, and lives on Southern Paiute ancestral land with her parents (again), shih tzu sister, & 3 rescued cats. Recently two of her poems have come out in The Southern Quill 2021, as well as two poems in Rigorous Volume 5, Issue 3.

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