This is a guest blog post written by Danielle Kohn
Poetry may not be an obvious ally in troubled times, but it can be a surprisingly reassuring source of calm and a simple tool for reducing anxiety. In that sense, poetry is perfectly suited to our current circumstances, and with that in mind, I would like to share poems I selected to uplift and inspire us. My hope is that reading and thinking about the same poems will connect us as a community, even though we are all apart, and offer a small measure of solace.
Poet Deborah Landau can get us started with her appropriately titled poem “You’ve Got to Start Somewhere.” Landau said the idea for this poem came to her while walking the streets of Manhattan and noticing that everyone was looking at their smart phones as they walked by. She was inspired to chronicle her feelings about what we are losing from this isolating reliance on technology and what we could gain collectively from dispensing with it. She daydreams about reverting to yesterday’s pastimes, like writing an actual letter or reading a physical book, and she considers how we could benefit from connecting on a human level with our voices and our hands.
To me, this poem takes on a new, more poignant meaning in the current environment. Although the stay at home directive has compelled us to rely even more on technology, in contrast to Landau’s lesson, at the same time, the quarantine has realigned our priorities in a way that reinforces her point. We have been forced to hit the pause button on our formerly frenetic lives. The imposed stillness has given us the space to take stock of what is really important, like reconnecting with friends and spending time with family. It has also forced us to re-engage in forgotten pursuits like taking walks, reading books, and making art.
Through all the pain and disruption of the pandemic, a solidity and solidarity has emerged. We are creating connections that are more lasting than electronic messages that evaporate. We are forging bonds that are uniting our community. When the crisis passes, let’s remember what it was like to slow down and savor the world.