Of all the causes which conspire to blind.
Man’s erring judgement, and misguide the mind,
What the weak head with strongest bias rules,
Is PRIDE, the never-failing vice of fools.”

Alexander Pope, “An Essay on Criticism”

Is it really, really such an odious task
during a pandemic to put on a mask?

In the Trump White House, no mask is the rule,
Targeting the base, those Kool-Aid mainlining fools.

Masks remind voters of the invisible dread
That’s left more than 200,000 Americans dead.

What dat? Sistah Karma done come a-calling unexpected?
Kayleigh and Kellyanne done been infected?

Along with Thom Tillis, Hope Hicks, Mike Lee,
not to mention Donald J Trump and the First Lady?

Do Lawd! White House itself got more cases than New Zealand,
a country of just under five million people?

So is it really, really too much to ask
in a goddamn pandemic to put on a goddamn mask?