Poem For The White House Correspondents Dinner

 the nerd prom apparently isn’t smart enough

 to install new air filters to purge aerosols

 and it chose not to use ultraviolet Covid killing light

 maybe the organizers didn’t want people 

 to have a chance at better mass gathering health

 as they laugh at Trevor Noah’s safe jokes

 before he ascends to James Corden’s throne

Before National Poetry Month ends

 Only five days remaining in National Poetry Month, and here’s my small contribution—a reading of Martin Espada’s “Death Rides the Elevator in Brooklyn” from his book FLOATERS pic.twitter.com/igCe8aH34n

Thanks to Michael Grover, a colleague from two decades past, for introducing me to Martin Espada’s poetry.