COVID PROJECT

“As a woman/poet of color, I have always written about social issues, primarily social justice/injustice issues. There remains much about the COVID-19 pandemic and other crises that are directly related to inequity in this country.”

I think this has driven me to read even more and to enjoy poetry the most of all. I can still listen to poets read their words and feel tethered to the world in a way that makes me feel there is hope.

Linda Ankrah-Dove’s poem “Hum of Silence” calls to mind the power of silence, of solitude, and the wisdom of having less instead of more.

“It’s easy to fall into despair, especially during a pandemic. Hope holds power. Hope reaches into the very pores of our being.”

Now that we’ve officially passed the one-year anniversary of the pandemic beginning, it seems apt to publish a poem that explores the circularity of time, as well as the ways we find ourselves wrapped up in new activities or observations, all these odd and creative ways to pass the time.

“We need to express ourselves during these difficult times, and to do so creatively nourishes our souls. We can understand the world around us at face value … But the arts offer us a new way to make sense of our reality.”

“A false new birth./ This too blue sky./ These red tulips with yellow pistils/ yawn open.”

Art for art’s sake: yes, there is something to say about that. But art for humanity’s sake: that is how we must make use of our talents.

As we continue to bring you work from the COVID Poetry and Art Project, we’re excited to highlight abstract painter Bettina Brunner.

What we need now/ is glow…/ The sort of night that embers make

Sometimes justice is an endless search of blur/ while they come at you in a slow, stupid/ lumber with dead, dead eyes — crumbling/ arms outreached as if in embrace./ Like on that show The Walking Dead,

Looking back on times of turmoil, art can give a lasting window into the most intimate thoughts and feelings experienced during that time.

Grace Cavalieri is Maryland’s tenth poet laureate. And if you want to read more of Grace’s pandemic poetry: she’s one of the amazing poets featured in 2021 anthology Singing in the Dark: A Global Anthology of Poetry under Lockdown.

This has been done before, standing in line for a long time.

Think of Soviet women who queued for hours for bread.

In this painting, I portray an explosion of colors and human emotions at the moment Pandora opened the proverbial box.