Poetry in the Time of a Pandemic

Between March 1 and June 13 of this year, Hank Lazer wrote a sequence of poems collectively titled COVID19 SUTRAS . The arrangement of this ongoing progression is divided into five sections: (early days); (flattening the curve); (phased reopening); (we’re back?); (“I can’t breathe”).

During the first sequence, subtitled “[early days],” Lazer writes,

soldier    shoulder

slow    words    emanate

invasion

of the invisible

“burdens are from God

& shoulders also”

we are becoming

their host

a beautiful spring day

in the moment    nothing changes

in this instant     memory of the dead & dying

to see all things    as they are    disappearing

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