Portside

Face Mask

By Paul Hostovsky       

Have you noticed

how beautiful

everyone looks

when all you can see

are their eyes?

Something about

the imagination,

how it conjures

a perfectly

beautiful face

in the eyes

of the beholder

facing a pandemic

and a polity

with so many unveiled

ugly hatreds.

Paul Hostovsky is the author of twelve books of poetry, most recently, Mostly (FutureCycle Press, 2021). His poems have won a Pushcart Prize, two Best of the Net Awards, and have been featured on Poetry Daily, Verse Daily, and The Writer's Almanac. He makes his living in Boston as a sign language interpreter. Website: paulhostovsky.com