hope in the time of corona

hope in the time of corona

Mar 11

Written By Amanda Stuermer

my son and I both love

gabriel garcia marquez

and were laughing weeks ago

(which feels like years ago)

about a follow up to his novel

love in the time of cholera

maybe we should hop on a boat

raise the yellow flag

and stay out at sea for a while

we’ll be tan and happy I mused

which is sadly what is happening

though not the tan and happy part

and also not in the poetic language

of gabriel garcia marquez

whose name itself sounds like a poem

ships out at sea

literally and otherwise

so many of us feeling

lost in an ocean of unknowns

wondering if our supplies will last

or our sanity

or our humanity

which toilet paper cannot save

i’m not a good prepper

I do not hoard

it goes against my very nature

costco has always made me sad

american gluttony

with a membership card

but I reluctantly went

and I shopped for canned goods

and frozen fruit

and wine

(which I have already gone through)

and then I hopped on a plane

to check on my girl

living an ocean away

and things sped up fast

travel bans

borders closed

more countries quarantined

23 ghost flights from heathrow

my cabbie said

but don’t worry he added

the government

will get it under control

and he laughed

and that’s when my panic set in

the time of corona

was upon us

and so I did

what I always do in times

of national emergency

(‘two very big words’ said our idiot in chief)

no I didn’t buy more masks

or toilet paper

because those will not save me

i went looking

for words of wisdom instead

language has always been

my medicine of choice

mantras, memes, monologues

to make me laugh

and also cry

(thank you late night comedy tv)

to remind me that

life is beautiful

(thank you italians singing from balconies)

and I pulled up quotes

from gabriel garcia marquez

the writer whose name

sounds like a poem

and found this:

“he allowed himself to be swayed by his conviction

that human beings are not born once and for all

on the day their mothers give birth to them,

but that life obliges them over and over again

to give birth to themselves.”

and it reminded me of what

valarie kaur shared from

the muse stage only a week ago

which feels like a year ago

“what if the darkness we feel

is not the darkness of the tomb,

but the darkness of the womb….

we are the midwives laboring for

love…breathe and push”

life is obliging us to give

birth to ourselves right now

breathe and push

which part of ourselves

will we choose

love over fear

connection over isolation

even in a time of social distancing

especially in a time of

social distancing

breathe and push

which part of ourselves

will we feed and nurture

the innate part that rev. angel

talked about in that long ago

week

ago

when we mused and drank tequila

and she reminded us

that we all long for belonging

or the part that keeps us separated

by arbitrary borders and

toilet paper hoarders

and fears

that make us

draw back in horror

when some poor soul sneezes

breathe and push

and still

i have faith in us

i have hope

as gabriel garcia marquez

the writer whose name

sounds like a poem wrote:

‘“you can't eat hope,' the woman said.

‘you can't eat it, but it sustains you,' the colonel replied.”