Pandemic Haiku: Living through COVID-19

The world has not seen anything so devastating as the novel coronavirus pandemic since the Spanish influenza of 1918, which killed millions of people. Except in the most remote parts of the globe, the daily lives of one and all have been turned upside down like never before. We are being challenged to adapt abruptly, calling upon resilience and resourcefulness as well as humor even as anxiety, if not panic, rises in the face of sickness, death and job loss. Maybe you will recognize yourself or your loved ones in these pages and appreciate the myriad ways you too are coping with so much uncertainty and disruption. We are all living through this pandemic together.
national emergency
she stocks up
on cookies


whatever weather
every trip to the store
Russian roulette


the same walk
so many passersby
say hello now


sheltering in place
not yet a vaccine
family board games


coronavirus spread
she recommends a birdbath
for company


everywhere at once
Buddha with the smile
of unbearable compassion