Friday poetry challenge: Don't ask the mask!

A friend wonders whether this bizarre life we're leading is squelching my creativity and yes I said yes it is yes!

The mask makes it more difficult to be understood, to the point that sometimes I calculate whether it's even worth the effort to open my mouth, and I know my students are feeling the same way. But the mask is a visible sign of this invisible cloud we've all been living under. Sure, lots of people have responded to the pandemic by letting their creative juices flow in all kinds of interesting ways, but over time the cloud has turned dark and heavy and surrounded me like a damp wool cloak, suppressing my ability to think or speak or write creatively.

I know I'm not the only one feeling this way. I have to force myself to write anything more complicated than an email, and even then I struggle to put together words that reach beyond the perfunctory. My mind feels blank, my language leaden--even my dreams are colorless and blah. Where is the creativity of yesteryear? And will it return to full flourishing after life gets back to normal, whatever normal means these days?

Maybe what I need to do to keep the creative ideas flowing is to give them a regular outlet. That's why I'm trying to revive the Friday Poetry Challenge: if I force myself once a week to engage in a little creative word-play, maybe the exercise will open a conduit to keep the creativity moving through the pipes. It's worth a try. Setting a specific goal helps motivate me to act, and if there's one thing my sluggish, lazy, couch-potato brain needs right now, it's exercise.

So this is me, exercising my creativity within some narrow constraints. Feel free to join the fun!

Don't ask the mask!
It maims the game
of words. I've heard
the same from fam-
ous folk. Don't poke
the beast! It ceased
to care; it stares
or sleeps. Don't speak
of dreams--it seems
they're dull, a null,
a nought. I ought
to pull and mull
some words I've heard,
stretch sounds around
in play. I may
abound in sound
again. 'Til then,
don't ask! The mask
prevails. I fail
the task. (Don't ask.)