Items

• 
  2020-09-30

  The Sounds of What is Lost

  This story speaks to the ever-changing sounds of the pandemic. Sensory history allows us to engage with the past in ways the invite the senses of the past back into the story. As my partner and I were navigating all the trials and tribulations conjured into existence by the events of the past year and a half, we noticed how silent our home full of sadness and confusion had been. Gone were the overhead aerial shows, the chatty neighbors, the rattling railway tracks... Now there was nothing. Our sense of sound changed dramatically and began to represent how fractured our connection to the world was. We had to be plugged in to tune each other out. We had to stare at a screen to see a familiar face. While most things felt, looked, and smelled different, there was nothing that sounded the same.
• 
  2020-04-04

  Diary of Azazel by Jessica Diaz

  I will be submitting a fiction diary that consists of a collection of poetry. These poems are chosen with azazel in mind. He worships misfortune and only loves one woman. Who later passes away due to the coronavirus. The corona virus he once praised because it killed off his enemies. The poetry found in his diary are from famous poets all around and the writing expresses his feelings of hate and despair.
• 
  2021-04-07

  covid questions

  Have u been sick? Noooo!! Do u remember the ticks? Noooo!! What kinda question is this? Screening sir…. Can u recognize the meaning? Screaming: Noooo!! War time in the field, the ears? Yes. Palpitations, shortness of breath? Yes. Secret agent spray Vaguely the mist, but yes ma'am Are you okay? Noooo!! I'm here for my vaccination.
• 
  2021-02-01

  The play

  My new puppy My new life Exciting but i miss My space Slept good last night Traveled to a place far away This morning sunshine blinding My way Thoughts are jumbled best way to explain Forgot my prayer to start my day
• 
  2021-05-17

  EVERYTHING I'VE LEARNED ABOUT LOVE

  “Everything I learned about love” is a journal of the year 2020 by graphic designer Juddelis Villar where she compiles photographs, journal entries, and poetry she made during the year of the pandemic. Through her little archive of the year, she tells us the story of how finding love in the middle of chaos helped her survive one of the most challenging years in history.
• 
  2020-05-01

  Social Distancing - Self Distancing

  When the Covid-19 pandemic caused New York City to go into lockdown the second week of March, it never once crossed my mind how large of an impact this shutdown would have in my personal life. In the picture below I show a poem I wrote during the sixth month of quarantine: My days felt like they were going on a loop. Everyday felt like a continuation of the day before and my mind was tired of it. In my poem I expressed that I felt like a bird that crashes on the windshield of a car, signaling the repetitiveness of my life in my small NYC apartment. I think that this time was one of the most difficult times for my mental health and I tried desperately to find a way of coping. Essentially, this poem represents the mental state I found myself in trying to find different ways to deal with the fact that life had paused abruptly and that nothing was certain anymore. One of the ways that I found myself doing a lot during this time was sleeping. I began to get worried when one day I woke up at 4pm and felt as if I had woken up at 9am. I knew my sleep schedule was a disaster, but I think that this represents how monotone life felt. On another hand, I think that the lockdown served as an opportunity to reorganize my priorities and discover new likes and dislikes. Since I had recently changed my major from Biology to English, this time helped me realize how much I enjoy writing and learning about other writers and their work. I never thought I would enjoy my major as much as I am enjoying it, especially since I can dedicate more time on it thanks to the spare time staying at home gives me. I think that this poem will benefit future historians in their study of the effects the COVID-19 lockdown on people’s mental health. Specifically, historians will be able to be exposed to the anxiety the world felt knowing that there was little we could do to reverse the effects the lockdown was having in our mental stability. Basically, historians will be able to analyze how much the pandemic affected us beyond the physical aspect but the detrimental effects it held against our mental health. All in all, COVID-19 surely fits the line by Charles Dickens, “it was the best of times, it was the worst of times”.
• 
  2021-03-02

  George Floyd Square Artists

  From Drew Arrieta's post: On Sunday, George Floyd Square held space for black creatives to showcase and celebrate their creative excellence. The Twin Cities hands-down has one of the best spoken word and poetry communities. Thanks to @b_tulloch + @siriuslymarie + @toussaintmorrison for putting on this event.
• 2021-01-26

  For The Sake Of My Time

  At first it was nothing, Then something for all. I wrote and I drew, I played ball. The wind blew outside, strong and loud, But I was inside, away from the crowd, today was no day, for something out loud. And when my notebook fell to the floor, I cried. When my mask shifted on my face, “They could die” But at the end of the day, I picked up my pages for the sake of my time. Author's (Explanatory) Note: I stitched this together through scraps in my notebook that I had written over the year. Some of them on simple topics, others on grave events. This is important to me because it's some of my writing that didn't come planned and pre-packed, but an experience and struggle put together through snippets of my life and genuine, if simple, emotions that are coursing through every single one of us, only to be amplified in times like these.
• 2021-01-26

  For The Sake Of My Time

  At first it was nothing, Then something or all. I wrote and I drew, I played ball. The wind blew outside, strong and loud, But I was inside, away from the crowd, today was no day, for something out loud. And when my notebook fell to the floor, I cried. When my mask shifted on my face, “They could die” But at the end of the day, I picked up my pages for the sake of my time. Author's (Explanatory) Note: I stitched this together through scraps in my notebook that I had written over the year. Some of them on simple topics, others on grave events. This is important to me because it's some of my writing that didn't come planned and pre-packed, but an experience and struggle put together through snippets of my life and genuine, if simple, emotions that are coursing through every single one of us, only to be amplified in times like these.
• 2020-11-25

  Pandemic Poetry, Poem: Untitled

  "1816 has been described as "The Year Without a Summer." For me, 2020 has been like "The Year Without a Year." It has been like being in "Limbo," a year of Purgatory, the "Trump Bardo" - that intermediate state where you weather a s**t-storm of hypocrisy, lies, and disease before passing on to the next level of existence. How do I weather it? With humor, a lyrical outlook, exercise, perseverance, and family." -Dan Nave
• 2020-11-23

  Pandemic Poetry, Poem Titled: "Trumpty Dumpty"

  "Trumpty Dumpty built a great wall. Trumpty Dumpty had a great fall. All the Deplorables and Proud Little Men Couldn't elect Trumpty as President again..." This was a poem written by Dan Nave, who has used poetry as a means of processing his thoughts and feelings during the COVID-19 Pandemic.
• 
  2020-11-14

  A Recollection of Feelings

  This was a short paper assignment from a professor for an English class and we had free range with it so I decided to write my feelings and experiences during COVID times and this was the result.
• 
  2020-10-24

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

  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.]
• 
  2020-07-24

  A working mayor, an exhausted president, out-of-touch rich folk: Haikus during the community quarantine

  These poems document the quarantine adjustment period: the first fifteen days. They are news reports, coping methods, and dreams. They reflect the terrifying and the mundane. I began this project on Twitter, aware that we were entering into what would be an important historical event, and assuming that this project would be what would keep me sane. Soon, cabin fever got to me and I lost my motivation, so I set them aside, hoping that they would eventually contribute to the growing body of pandemic literature. If I don't make it through this pandemic, please remember me through these poems.
• 
  2020-04-04

  An Air of Crisis, a Sonnet by Susan Drennan Gabriel Bunn

  This is a sonnet written by Susan Drennan Gabriel Bunn. She a native New Yorker and wrote this on location in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Susan is a musician, writer, and fine artist. This is her poetry about the Corona time.
• 
  2020-04-30

  Notes from Coronaland--Poems Written Every Day in April 2020

  My English professor, Jo Kaplan, pen name for Joanna Parypinski, wrote a lovely collection of poetry while in quarantine in April 2020. The poems are beautiful in their simplicity and accessibility. The language is sometimes surprising, but always profound and universal. I think they have captured the feelings of all of us during this difficult time.