The Apples in My Orchard

A Blog By Carol Labuzzetta Since 2017

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Poetry Friday: What if?

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theapplesinmyorchard

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2–3 minutes

Today is Poetry Friday (again)! Is time moving faster? It seems to be for me! I don’t know what happened to the last six months! They just disappeared!

Karen Edmisten is our host today. Hop over to her blog for more poetry goodness! Thanks for hosting, Karen.

This week whizzed by. I’ve got my husband’s woodworking website up and published, although I still need to complete a few tasks to improve the SEO and enable purchases. He is pleased with it, and I am glad I could help him with it.

I wrote a Medium article on Monarch Butterfly Conservation that was boosted and is doing well, increasing both my income and readership. If you have a chance, please take a moment to read it. I do not earn money from Friend links, so I am not asking because I’d be paid – just because I think that it’s an important issue.

Today’s choices at the library. © Carol Labuzzetta, 2025.

Today, I went to the library and got a few books, in addition to the books I got on Tuesday at another branch. I picked up a poetry book and read a few. Has anyone read What Kind of Woman by Kate Baer (2020)? I read some and am not sure it’ll be for me. Tough subjects. I thought I’d share a part of one of her poems, but instead started to write one of my own.

Here is a draft:

What if?

What if the world wasn’t falling apart?
There wasn’t war, intolerance, or hatred?
What if there weren’t starving children,
Or the return of a preventable disease?
Or children could go to school without
Fear of being shot dead in a pew?

What if we helped one another?
We embraced our differences, as
Well as our similarities.
There are similarities, you know,
There are enough to make us
Reach out our hands to touch.

What if we didn’t wake in fear
Of our world becoming so
Ignorant that the only changes that come
Are oppression and suppression?
What if we had leaders we could
Look up to, telling our children to emulate?

Right now, there are a lot of what ifs….

© Draft, All Rights Reserved,
Carol Labuzzetta, 2025

Many of my ideas, of late, come from existential anxiety over the state of our world. When I find myself complaining about things I consider first-world problems – the price of travel, the cost of coffee, or being cold on an August day, I step back with shame and think – wow, there are so many more things to worry about – and then, the words just flowed onto the page.

Especially troubling for me this week is the possible end of what we know as the CDC, or the Centers for Disease Control. This organization publishes an essential handbook for healthcare providers and when you work in Medicine or Pediatrics, as I did, you consulted it often. It is known as the “Red Book.”

Infectious disease affects us all. No matter how we felt the pandemic was handled or if we followed all the guidelines to vaccinate our children, when it comes to infectious disease, we are affected by the decisions of others. I fear for what’s ahead. And yes, my fear is based on science.

13 responses to “Poetry Friday: What if?”

  1. Linda Mitchell Avatar
    Linda Mitchell

    I hear you on anxiety. It seems rampant. Recognizing it in oneself is important and a good step toward mitigating it. I’m proud of you for producing a website and article. Well done! ‘What if’ is such a good poem starter…there are so many! I’m wishing you moments of peace over the next week. Imagine, what if, each of us had a moment that we felt peace and knew someone else had sent us that wish? Wouldn’t that be nice?!

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  2. Irene Latham Avatar
    Irene Latham

    I spy EVERYTHING IS TUBERCULOSIS in your stack. Looking forward to reading that one! Thanks for your what ifs.

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  3. Denise Krebs Avatar
    Denise Krebs

    Carol, Amen and Amen to your “What ifs?” I am looking forward to a vast majority of Americans asking the same questions before it is too later. Thank you for sharing your wisdom on public health.

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  4. Tabatha Avatar
    Tabatha

    Choosing to not be able to take care of our own country’s health is a shocking choice that this regime is making. We have the right to expect better, and to expect our leaders to behave in ways that we would want our children to emulate. Congrats on the Medium article and your husband’s new website!

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    1. theapplesinmyorchard Avatar
      theapplesinmyorchard

      Thanks, Tabatha. Yes, the road we are being forced to go down regarding healthcare nationally is very scary. I think we’re in for a hard winter.

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  5. softly0c3ae78287 Avatar
    softly0c3ae78287

    Agreeing with your poem, Carol, and with our PF friends here. The pace of the daily shocks and losses does not seem to be letting up, does it? Thanks for putting some of our feelings into words, and for going to bat for the butterflies! (Somehow I’ve ended up praying for butterflies every day….) Best wishes for your husband’s creative, entrepreneurial endeavor!

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    1. theapplesinmyorchard Avatar
      theapplesinmyorchard

      Thanks, Robin. I appreciate your comments. Let’s hope for less daily shocks! Although, I don’t think this week counts. The decisions being made about our nation’s health has me worried. I think we are in for a hard winter.

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  6. Karen Edmisten Avatar
    Karen Edmisten

    I can relate to all of this, Carol. What if the world were not controlled by a selfish few?

    I just bought Everything is Tuberculosis the other day and plan to start it soon. I also just read John Green’s The Anthropocence Reviewed. Have you read that one? Worth reading.

    I haven’t read Kate Baer. You’ve got me curious. I need to head over to your article now!

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    1. theapplesinmyorchard Avatar
      theapplesinmyorchard

      Thanks, Karen. I did read The Anthropocene Reivewed and am half way through Everything is Tuberculosis. Both books were good but not great – leaving me a little deflated. I think Greens Middle Grade Ficition books are better. I’m not trying to be critical, but just don’t think they’re his best work. I read your comment on Medium too. Thanks for reading. I’m sure what you did with the Painted Lady butterflies was fine. And if you were only raising a few each summer there is not a problem with that – I did that with Monarchs and didn’t have a problem at the time I did it either. The story is different with monarchs because of their long migration. I want to be an example to others by recognizing something I did might have been more harmful than helpful. Hindsight is always 20/20, right?!

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    2. theapplesinmyorchard Avatar
      theapplesinmyorchard

      I have to revise my first impression of Green’s book on TB. I finished it today and it is a compelling read. I think my own background in nursing, as a health care provider colored some of my opinions about the book. He does become soapboxish towards the end and while I agree that the lack of social justice is a huge part of why this disease has not been adequately combated, I’m not sure he offers a solution that is attainabale. That is sad. I enjoyed the second half of the book more than the first, as I settled into “his style” which honestly, I felt was a little all over the place. I’d be interested to know what you think. thanks.

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      1. Karen Edmisten Avatar
        Karen Edmisten

        I can certainly understand how your healthcare background would influence your reactions to this (or any) book on the history/current dilemma of a disease and the complexities involved in conquering it. I just finished the book today and I liked it a lot. His style, to me, is so movingly human. John Green is just John Green, flaws and all, and that’s why I love him.

        In some ways, the book is really Henry’s story, the story of how one young man was saved by individual people who knew him and loved him and never gave up on him, never saw him as a statistic or the necessary casualty of this disease.

        I loved when Green said:

        “Writing is like that for me, like I’m typing, ‘Marco, Marco, Marco,’ for years, and then finally the work is finished and someone reads it and says, ‘Polo.’

        “And so here is Shreya, saying, ‘Polo’ to me from across the great divide. But she is also saying ‘Marco.’ She is also telling me to hear her voice, and answer her call. People often ask me why I’m obsessed with tuberculosis. I’m a novelist, not a historian of medicine. TB is rare where I live. It doesn’t affect me. And that’s all true. But I hear Shreya, and Henry, and so many others calling to me: Marco, Marco, Marco.”

        So here I am, saying, “Polo, John.” I know more now about TB, about Henry, and Shreya, and about the meager ways in which I can contribute to the fight. Maybe that’s all a novelist can hope to do in the fight against TB?

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  7. cvarsalona Avatar
    cvarsalona

    Carol, it is wonderful that you helped your husband with his new website. Good luck to him. I will read your Medium post soon. The little grandgirls are coming over shortly for a sleep over. Positive what-ifs are needed now in this mixed-up world. Your poem is filled with thoughtful statements. I especially like these lines: What if we had leaders we could/Look up to, telling our children to emulate? Have a great week.

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    1. theapplesinmyorchard Avatar
      theapplesinmyorchard

      Thank you Carol. I hope you enjoyed your granddaughter’s visit. Yes, we all need to be positive. Some days are easier than others.

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