Writers’ Pantry #32: From Case Studies to Plague Poetry

How does one respond to a stranger who asks, “Can you recommend a good pandemic book?” In my case, I just sort of stare a lot. I’m certain the asker is wondering about the glassy-eyed look on my face. Is she ignoring me? They might think. In fact, that question often brews a gazillion more questions in my skull: What do you mean by “pandemic book” (a book where a bunch of people die horribly before the protagonist finds a cure? Or, a book set in pandemic times? Or, a book about how to escape a pandemic? Or… by the way, what sort of books do you enjoy reading? And, when you say “pandemic”, are you talking COVID-19, H1N1 influenza, lying politicians gone viral? Do explain…)
 

Anyway, someone asked me that (yelled, actually, since we were standing six feet apart waiting to go into surgery). A nurse came and got me while I was still on the glassy-eyed look stage, so I didn’t have time to respond. But I got the person’s email address—I never lose a chance to do some bookish indoctrination recommendation. After a couple of days exchanging messages, I found out that the person in question hated long books, hated books set in places she knew little about, hated books that were too political, hated books that didn’t have happy endings, and… well, you can get the picture. I ended up sending her links to USA Today’s “The top 25 escapist books to read in quarantine, per Goodreads” (and recommended Buy Yourself the F*cking Lilies: And Other Rituals to Fix Your Life, by Tara Schuster); O, The Oprah Magazine (and recommended Nevers, by Megan Martin); and to “Publishers Snap Up Corona Books, From Case Studies to Plague Poetry”, an article by The New York Times (and recommended Together in a Sudden Strangeness: America’s Poets Respond to the Pandemic, edited by Alice Quinn).

I ended the email with this note: “I have no idea if you are going to like these books, but I plan to read them. So, we can yell at each other about one or all of them when we go back to get rid of our stitches.” Her emoji reply might’ve looked glassy-eyed.

This poem is from the Together in a Sudden Strangeness anthology,
and I totally had to share it:

 Announcements and Reminders:

- in her latest Wild Fridays, Rosemary shared “Do Not Let Them Train You”, a poem by Caitlin Johnstone. If you’ve yet to read the piece, do give it a go. And if you have a minute, dive into the comments—they add quite a bit to the conversation.

- next Wednesday, for our Weekly Scribblings #32: I Am Explaining A Few Things, Sanaa invites us to write inspired by the phrase “I am explaining a few things”, the title of a poem by Pablo Neruda, which you can find if you follow this link.  

 

But on Pantry day, you have to follow no prompt. Share poetry or prose that is old or new, words that are bright like the sun or dark like the times. Let your pieces be short or long (if you go for prose, please make your word count 369 words or fewer). One link per participant. The Writers’ Pantry will remain open for a week. As always, take a moment to visit other poets and storytellers, and let them know that their words did for you.