One Day at a Time: A COVID-19 Poetry Collection

Lockdown 

Let yourself process the events of today,

Even if they cause you to sink further

Into the couch. Let yourself be dismayed.

Let yourself be sad as you say goodbye

To your friends, teachers, and expectations.

Let Zoom University make you cry.

Let yourself admit you’re not doing fine.

While some days are easier to get through,

Let yourself throw a tantrum like you’re nine.

Let yourself cry for your locked-down brothers

While wishing you could hug them through Facetime.

Tell yourself it’s okay to feel smothered.

Just know these emotions are all okay,

And soon we will see better, healthy days.

This is a terza rima poem, which is comprised of four tercets and a couplet with each line having ten syllables. The rhyme scheme is aba bcb cdc and so on.

Quarantine Day 5

Arise from the couch, weary brethren

Thy roommates hath begun a HIIT workout on YouTube

And thou must not sink further into the luscious leather beneath your buttocks.

The yogi influencer’s fair visage abhors thine addiction to Netflix.

Pray ye perpend live-streaming the fair maiden’s instructional performance?

Trying times hath taken the nation, the vile virus still spreading

Despite our valiant campaigns to front the sickness.

Wherefore is thy courage in this coil?

Though the country quakes, we must not fear nor retire.

The disdainful disease ought to be o’er wrought.

This crisis is young, and thus we must be yare

To combat the spread and do our share.

Wall-eyed are many as they are captive in their cottages,

Yet ‘tis better than the lot of those already interred.

Zany are those who continue their testy traipses out of doors,

Their unpregnant souls wanting subscription to world legislation.

Having given little respect to others, the knaves must be knapped accordingly,

And their couching countenances quickened to the risks they’ve assumed,

However unknowingly.

So pall ye in the blankets you most fancy,

Or engage in parlor calisthenics,

Perchance completing some schoolwork as well.

Whether our efforts will result in virus-killing expedience,

Only time will tell.

It was fun to try my hand at writing a dramatic monologue. I don’t mean to minimize or ridicule the grave situation our world is in by poking fun at it; rather, I do so to liven my spirit and perhaps anyone who reads my poem as well. It was fun to learn more about Shakespeare’s English in the process. I found a list of commonly used Shakespeare terms and tried to use as many as I could.

Per CDC Recommendations

Per CDC Recommendations, I propose that you take a deep breath.

Per CDC Recommendations, I propose that you watch a funny show.

Per CDC Recommendations, I propose that you do not fear death.

Per CDC Recommendations, I propose that you take it slow.

Per CDC Recommendations, I propose that you go on a walk.

Per CDC Recommendations, I propose that you watch some plants grow.

Per CDC Recommendations, I propose that you call a friend to talk.

Per CDC Recommendations, I propose that you do a craft.

Per CDC Recommendations, I propose that you draw on your driveway with chalk.

Per CDC Recommendations, be conscientious of one another and surrender your plans.

Oh, and one more thing.

Per CDC Recommendations, always remember to wash your hands.

I was inspired by the poem “Let Evening Come” by Jane Kenyon and stole her repeated use of the same word to begin each stanza.

While these poems do not provide readers an escape from the chaos induced by the pandemic, I have found that writing them provided a space to process and release my emotions. Reading poems with similar themes surrounding anxiety and extremity has been cathartic as well. Thank you for coming along on my journey to learn more about the poetry genre, and I hope these provide you a little entertainment and encouragement during this trying time.