Thank you for spending Poetry Month with us. We hope you’ve enjoyed this selection of poetry and that perhaps you’ve discovered a poet you had never heard of before! On this final day we bring you a poem each from Windsor’s Poet Laureate Mary Ann Mulhern, Youth Poet Laureate Samantha Badaoa, and Poet Laureate Emeritus Marty Gervais. These poems come from the book A Dance of Self-Isolation, a collaboration with the City of Windsor this collection features a selection of poems from its poet laureates and mayor. Each poem is an ode to the pandemic and the sacrifices that essential workers and citizens have made in an effort to flatten the curve.

 

Don’t forget Michael Mirolla is doing a reading as part of poetry month at 7pm EST tonight! Visit the Facebook event page to register and we’ll see you tonight: https://www.facebook.com/events/201660378183932

 

Four Letter Words

-Samantha Badaoa

 

I don’t count the days anymore

time passes quickly
too fast for me
to keep up

I am running

towards all that

I still know

 

I know that cracks in my blinds

will let sun through
waking me up
gently

each morning
a centuries old alarm clock

 

I am running

towards all that

I can still hold

 

I hold memories in my sleep

cradle smiles and laughs

first steps
family dinners

 

I am running
towards statistics
in newspapers
that I wish were names

that I want to remember

 

I am running towards
all that I have
towards four letter words

that bring me comfort

 

love

hope

 

 

The Healthcare Worker in Covid

Marty Gervais

 

They are not bullet proof when they step

into the room, when they move into
a stranger’s world, and hear the staggered

breathing, frantic eyes searching —

they are a passing shadow for the sick

who struggle for relief, a moment of calm

of peace, anything to shift this day
into needed sleep, into somewhere safe

 

They are the guardian angels who move

silently day and night, a voice of calm

of peace, and they know they haunt
the very edge of harm’s way, masked

and gowned like moon walkers, yet

they are fearless in pursuit, slipping into

the dim light of a hospital room

and it’s their shadow that floats
in the feverish moment — yet it’s their voice

and their arms that embrace the ill
and collapsed and all the neighbourhoods

we know and remember

 

 

Rainbow Over Covid

Mary Ann Mulhern

 

In my walk along the river
A rainbow appears on the sidewalk
Bright colours of chalk
Pink, blue, green, purple, yellow, orange and red

The words, “Be Kind,” sing with light
A child runs to me
“I made the rainbow
My Mom helped me write the words”
A little boy, barely five
Smiles up at me
His mother takes his hand
Morning sun warms us
A blessing

 

 

A reminder that all the books featured this month can be purchased through our website or your local indie bookstore.