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Collected Item: “"There is a before and an after. Treat yourself gently." - Red Blood, Black Ink”

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"There is a before and an after. Treat yourself gently." - Red Blood, Black Ink

What sort of object is this: text story, photograph, video, audio interview, screenshot, drawing, meme, etc.?

screenshot

Tell us a story; share your experience. Describe what the object or story you've uploaded says about the pandemic, and/or why what you've submitted is important to you.

A poem about the times, and how it drags on.
Transcript:
[People say this new thing - well, that was before. We casually delineate - oh, but then quarantine. No, this was after March.

I hear the same tired, bitter tone in myself. Of course, I say, then covid happened. I mock my own choices; grit my teeth about finances, sneer about my English degree, sigh about loans from college. I regret what I didn’t appreciate. What I took for granted. I get angry at my past self - the trouble she didn’t avoid.

But I also hear - each of us, just a little, being gentle to each other. Well, you didn’t know, we say. It’s okay, we say, you will find something. Oh, tell me about gardening. Tell me about those new hobbies. Tell me about the crack in the floor you spent a week trying to refinish. Tell me about the new show you’ve been watching. It’s okay if it’s not much. It’s okay if you have no idea what the future looks like. It’s okay, none of us do. Be gentle to yourself. On this side of events, we care more, listen harder, value time with others. We talk about birds and we notice clouds and we have slowed down.

There is a before and an after. Treat yourself gently.]

Use one-word hashtags (separated by commas) to describe your story. For example: Where did it originate? How does this object make you feel? How does this object relate to the pandemic?

#quarantinerenaissance,#poem,#poetry,#text,#HSE,#art

Enter a URL associated with this object, if relevant.

https://ridinkskinned.com/post/632918468212162560/people-say-this-new-thing-well-that-was-before

Who originally created this object? (If you created this object, such as photo, then put "self" here.)

Red Blood, Black Ink

Give this story a date.

2020-10-24
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