Even as we present this, our Pandemic Issue, the attention of WordCity Literary Journal’s editors is very much turned towards Ukraine. Our hearts are with her people and her president, united in hope for peace, freedom and continued democracy. Our May 2022 issue, featuring a human rights theme, will be presented in honour of Ukraine.Continue reading “Letter from the editor. Darcie Friesen Hossack”
Tag Archives: Pandemic Poetry
Messenger. a poem by John Eliot
Messenger 4.10 a.m. I’m not looking for someone awake, just saw you on line, don’t really know you. We met, I found you cold. My wife tells me you are warm, kind; maybe it was me, full of himself, il poeta, the concert. Signed a lot of books that night in late sun and beautyContinue reading “Messenger. a poem by John Eliot”
Sonnet for Floating. by Paul Ilechko
Sonnet for Floating I was between the diamonds of the earth’s moisture floating on a raft on a lake and I had fallen into a dream where everything kept disappearing until I was surrounded by nothing but sky and then in my dream I realized that the sky was in fact a mirror image ofContinue reading “Sonnet for Floating. by Paul Ilechko”
2 poems by Debra Black
a bad case of the asymmetrical blues or how to survive a pandemic a cracking, thrumming, vibrating, anxious heart beating, rising, throttling, digging deeper into paranoia, drifting into illness, echoes around the world. body counts, pieces of humanity strewn across the sky, hidden in the Duomo tattered and weary, the end of the world. theContinue reading “2 poems by Debra Black”
What Hunger Costs. a poem by Susan Glickman
What Hunger Costs I. All every creature wants is to survive virus or human, bat or pangolin – though in this case we may resent its drive life’s just cells mutating from within. That’s why we like to pillage habitats not ours, arboreal or aquatic, looking for stuff to use. We don’t care that theContinue reading “What Hunger Costs. a poem by Susan Glickman”
3 poems by Emily Hockaday
Household Mirages In an alternate universe, we painted this wall yellow— goldenrod like a kitchen should be. I see our shadows cross entryways and hover over the wall by the stove. Your hands were the setting sun, bringing down the hanging plants for thirst. In another universe, the two-bedroom is a three-bedroom, or only aContinue reading “3 poems by Emily Hockaday”
3 poems by Patrick Connors
Virus We are all having the same nightmare, overcome by an invisible, relentless enemy completely unable to protect ourselves. People are dying by the dozens doing the work, we take for granted. Undervalued, often underpaid labour suddenly something we can’t live without. People are dying alone in soiled beds made up of despair. They lieContinue reading “3 poems by Patrick Connors”
3 poems by Sally Quon
Rough Living He’s been “rough living” as they call it. Skin over bones, frost-bitten hands. “How’re the kids?” he asks, like it matters now. “They’ve got me quarantined, top of the shelter. Might have the virus. Might not.” The words blur; rearrange themselves. “You shouldn’t have left. I’m going to die and it’s your fault.”Continue reading “3 poems by Sally Quon”
Abuelita. a poem by Juanita Rey
Abuelita There was never a television in her house. Just an old radio that ran off a battery. She was always averse to plugging things in. La sala was lined with photographs in descending order, from her stern mother and father, to one of her wedding day, down to my sister and myself. With everyContinue reading “Abuelita. a poem by Juanita Rey”
Gather. a poem by Michele Rule
Gather Two long years. Covid still dictates where we can gather and when, how many and who. I don’t begrudge that. I march forward with the majority. I don’t heed the call of the convoy to disobey. I’m just tired, worn out, weary of Zoom meetings, cancelled trips, social distancing. Missed moments we’ll never getContinue reading “Gather. a poem by Michele Rule”
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