Steve had his vaccine shot yesterday and I have mine today and so I smile as I read the poem Garrison Keillor wrote after receiving his.  Ours is at our Civic Center, where they hold the county fair in July, though not last year of course, and we’ll see how things are this year.  Meanwhile ….

Garrison Keillor:

The clinic that offers vaccine

Resembles a well-run machine,

I got my shot,

Sat down, was not

Dizzy or hot or pale green,

No aftereffects,

Loss of reflex,

Skin wasn’t waxy

So I hopped in a taxi,

Went home to my wife,

Resuming my life,

Which still is, thank God, quite routine. 

Isolated, as monks, but serene,

Trying to keep my hands clean. 

And in this isolation, I spin round on the words of Thomas Merton:

One has to be in the same place every day, watch the dawn from the same window or porch, hear the same birds each morning to realize how inexhaustibly rich and diverse is this “sameness.”