sharpie drawing, acrylic hand gesture monoprint on Kraft paper, balled up as if to be thrown away and uncrumpled; 10×10” with accompanying poem

Fuck you COVID.
Fuck you for not clearly defining
who is and isn’t essential,
whose work is genuinely valued
and whose work isn’t appreciated.
Fuck you for celebrating the heroes
who go to work every day
despite risks to self and family
because they must to survive.
Fuck your yard signs and virtual high fives:
where are the raises
and health care initiatives
and cost of living allowances?

Fuck you COVID.
Fuck you for the politicizing
and the propaganda
and playing party politics same as always.
Fuck you for the right wing and the left wing
and everyone caught crashing down
in the middle of the fray.
The oxygen masks have deployed.
Fuck you for the fake news
and the dissenting fact checks
and the distrustful resentment.
Fuck you for the conspiracies.

Fuck you COVID.
Fuck you for being a virus,
for just doing what you do,
for being so transmittable and longstanding
and so deadly to those you affect the worst
while not afflicting everyone the same…
Fuck you for bringing out our human nature,
both our generosity and our tribalism.

ARTIST BIO: Jennifer Weigel is a multi-disciplinary mixed media conceptual artist who utilizes a wide range of media to convey her ideas, including assemblage, drawing, fibers, installation, jewelry, painting, performance, photography, video and writing. Much of her work touches on themes of beauty, identity (especially gender identity), memory & forgetting, and institutional critique. Jennifer’s art has been exhibited nationally in all 50 states and has won numerous awards.