The pandemic isn’t over. Many disabled and chronically ill people have experienced isolation their entire lives, but since this pandemic’s start — and perceived end — that loneliness has reached new levels.

Alone
They complained
Alone isn’t healthy
Alone isn’t the way we were meant to be

For me
It’s familiar
But not familiar in the way a home is
Familiar like the dark
Known but unknown
Comforting, yet unsettling
In a different light

My bones are lonely
Built in isolation
In a chamber 
The world looked on
As I looked through the glass
Vanishing
In everyone’s sight

Process

As a chronically ill and disabled writer, I felt compelled to speak on the ongoing isolation disabled folks experience thanks to reduced masking, testing, and vaccinations.