Poems for Corona

Here it is with a second stanza by Caroline Donnola, a third by Gail Peck, a fourth by Alice Rydel and a fifth by Nancy Hanks:

Be passive, be quiet 

Stay home.

Don’t talk to a neighbor;

Ride the elevator alone

Let’s defy this new custom
of averting our eyes
when passing each other
as if to disguise
that we are all hurting
and ache to empathize

Be creative and warm
It won’t cause any harm
Find a way to connect
That’s unusual and direct

Be aggressively kind

Go for walks and smile at others doing the same

Talk on the phone, on Zoom, by email, six feet away, by whatever

Go on your balconies, porches, open your windows

Clap, cheer, clang on pots with all your neighbors around the world

“”Always be aiming for people’s spontaneous, taken for granted, embodied, ‘natural’ ways of reacting and responding to their surroundings and to each other.” [paraphrase from John Shotter, Wittgenstein in Practice, Taos Institute, 2012]
We live in the democracy that we have now.
BE different. Lead differently.
And don’t forget to wash your hands and turn off the news!

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