My writing teacher, Jennifer, invited all participants in her writing studios to share their pandemic learnings—especially as they applied to our art—one year after we all went into lockdown. Here are the bones of my experience, my Haiku Year in Review.
Pandemic musings
What changes have twelve months wrought?
Lifetime in one year.
A world of chaos
Inequities boldly bared
Risk at every turn.
My inner hermit
Thrived with a blank calendar
Sweet isolation.
Husband and cat soothed
Zoom, phone, Facetime, texts sufficed
Writing work fulfilled.
I finished one book
A memoir in haiku poems
Recharged by COVID.
Another followed
Travel story collection
Posts from decades past.
Challenge awaited
My nascent work of fiction
No excuse to stall.
Zoom Room of writers
My accountability
My silent support.
Months passed, bum in chair
Workshops and consultations
First draft, finally.
Now for the hard work
Applying all I have learned
To craft a good read.
At my desk each morn
Jennifer on my shoulder
Creative whisper.
Positive outcome
Committed writing practice
Love of words renewed.
Negative outcome
Weight of world in disarray
Sense of helplessness.
Biggest surprise
My comfort in the small world
Chiseled by COVID.