—For J.

1.

In the video, R., only four, slithers down Hartman Rock’s
single track, arcing into each turn as his tires whirl across
coarse dirt, spitting sandstone, passing prickly pear cactus.
Speeding, R. shouts at his father, Is this the real world?

2.

I know, while watching
the video, that R. is talking about
the speed, the single track,
the thrill,
but, today, on the day of
the election, I wonder if R.
is also talking about
biking with his father,
something he hasn’t
been able to do
as his father,
my brother, nearly
died
time
and again,
from covid,
is still
just a ghost,
a wisp,
of himself.

3.

This video is of one of the few rides J. has taken these past
eight months, too sick to do much more than just shuffle.

In the video, which I watch again and again, as four-year-old
R. banks into a turn, he bellows,

Is this the real world?

4.

I replay the video—Is this the real world?—tears running
down my face, my brother eight months covid sick, no end,
no end, and a president up for reelection who tells us doctors
lie, mask are useless, science is false.

5.

Is this the real world?

Is this the real world?

Is this the real world?

Is this the real world? Is this the real world?

Is this the real world?

6.

No, R., your day in Hartman’s was not
just a dream, your father today
not still too sick
to mountain bike with you again,
your president—hopefully
voted out today
—claiming covid
is easier than
the flu.

Is this the real world?

7.

Today, this moment, let us vote with pens and voices, love
and fury, postage stamps and muscles to protect children like
R. and people like his father, who aren’t even statistics.

Is this the real world?

• 231,000 covid deaths,
preventable.
• 9.38 million covid cases,
rising 93,581 a day.
• And untallied—
like disenfranchised votes—
so many covid long haul
patients, including J.
• And untallied—
like a rejected ballot—
the number of children
of long haul parents, including R.

8.

Today, R., let us create the world anew.

Climb upon your bike and ride, forever shouting,

Is this the real world?