Bus riders shout about the plague in America,
how God, family & faith are the ways to get through.
She believes in holy shit & science.
She steps out of the bus without touching anything,
except her iced venti tea, & a paper straw covering
she twists around & around in her left fingers,
as if it were prayer beads or a Catholic rosary.
Praying for an empty street at Skillman Ave.,
she breathes a masked sigh of relief; a new day begins!
As she surveys a crammed Queens Boulevard ahead—
the world is still moving along,
even when most people are staying still.