Stay Home, Stay Safe
Title
Stay Home, Stay Safe
Description
This is a poem that reflects my emotions as we entered into the Stay Home Stay Safe period
Creator
Nancy Gore
Date
March 2020
Contributor
Nancy Gore
Spatial Coverage
Text
Stay Home, Stay Safe
And we begin to smell as we go longer between baths
we miss the beat
of routines
we lose connection
to distractions
And we ache
for all that is breaking
loved ones
fixed stubbornly in our hearts
and out of reach
And here is my grief
In my throat
and in my chest
and it melts my face
from forehead down
And there are my children
One
two
and three
So far away
and here are my tears
Stripped of excuses bald-faced anxiety also lodged in my throat
but this one grips my jaw and clenches my teeth as my body defends against accumulating harm.
Let us now count to 4
as we inhale
and hold our breath
And count again
as we exhale
Now.
Let us breathe.
And we begin to smell as we go longer between baths
we miss the beat
of routines
we lose connection
to distractions
And we ache
for all that is breaking
loved ones
fixed stubbornly in our hearts
and out of reach
And here is my grief
In my throat
and in my chest
and it melts my face
from forehead down
And there are my children
One
two
and three
So far away
and here are my tears
Stripped of excuses bald-faced anxiety also lodged in my throat
but this one grips my jaw and clenches my teeth as my body defends against accumulating harm.
Let us now count to 4
as we inhale
and hold our breath
And count again
as we exhale
Now.
Let us breathe.
Collection
Citation
Nancy Gore, “Stay Home, Stay Safe,” COVID-19 Archive, accessed September 7, 2024, https://covid-19.digitalvermont.org/items/show/99.