On Wearing Masks

There was a time, long gone,
When persona meant
Both a person and a mask,
And lineage was traced
Through death masks
Kept in family shrines.

There have always been masks.
Egyptian mummy masks;
African ritual masks;
The voodoo masks of Haiti;
Masks of sorcery and initiation.
And the magical mask of Ipkiss.

The tragic and the comic,
Melpomene and Thalia,
And, the macabre too.
Theaters have them all,
From the Noh of Japan
To the Kathakali of Kerala.

Native Americans had masks,
Till their children were stolen
And assimilated in boarding schools.
Not enough N95s for them now;
And the Navajo Nation rate
Exceeds New York’s.

Niqabs were banned for women,
But even men must wear them now.
The manly, though, are resisting,
For it’s illegal to bear arms
While wearing a mask.
The bullet or the virus, take your pick.

We have always worn masks.
Only, the visible has mutated
To the invisible, inscrutable
Mask of political correctness.
But eyes can’t hide the hate.
All the world’s a stage.
Exeunt left.

Abie Alexander
© August 09, 2020