As people approach their third week in quarantine, social media, Zoom conferences and FaceTime are some of the more popular ways people have been sharing their experiences and reconnecting. Not being able to see one’s friends, or have a chat with someone passing by has had a major impact on the social energy in cities all around the world. Now, one local project is looking to connect people through the arts.
With most people confined to their homes, the need for creative outlets is on the rise. Conveniently, April is Poetry Month, a month dedicated to the contributions and appreciation of poetry in the United States. With this in mind, Cincinnati's past and present Poets Laureate Pauletta Hansel and Manuel Iris are teaming up to give local writers and poets a chance to share their quarantine experiences and feelings through the written word.
The Cincinnati Poetry Month project is open for all Cincinnati area poets to submit what Hansel and Iris are calling “Postcards from the Pandemic.” Thirty poems by local poets will be selected and shared daily on Hansel’s blog, as well as the Poet Laureate of Cincinnati Facebook Group. Iris will translate 10 poems into Spanish.
Full guidelines for poetry submissions can be found online, but include, "Write a short poem of around 150 words or less (that) speaks to your personal experience during these days of the COVID-19 pandemic. Imagine, perhaps, you are writing this as a postcard—perhaps to a loved one who is elsewhere, perhaps to some future reader who has not experienced these times. Postcards often mention the locale from which they are sent, and the activities of the writer. Because our postcards are also poems, we encourage you to use at least one bit of figurative language (metaphor, simile, etc.)."
Hansel recently commented on the project in a press release.
“We hope this project will be of value in many ways — area poets will have the opportunity to write and share during Poetry Month; we will use poetry to connect with others in our community and beyond in this time of social distancing; and by recording our firsthand experiences through poetry, we will be creating a record of our community's life in this historic time.”
A few poems have already been selected, including one by nationally recognized, Ohio-born poet Richard Hague. Also among the selected poets are local professors Rhonda Pettit from University of Cincinnati Blue Ash and Nancy Jentsch from Northern Kentucky University.
Postcards from the Pandemic will begin being shared on April 1. The deadline for submissions is Sunday, April 5.
You can follow along on Hansel’s blog at paulettahansel.wordpress.com/blog, or on the Poet Laureate of Cincinnati Facebook page.
