When the pandemic arrived in 2020, the world went quiet — libraries closed, schools emptied, and the in-person readings I loved came to a stop. But poetry doesn’t need a stage to do its work. If anything, those years showed me that words can reach people exactly when they need them most.
Reading from a distance
I began reading poetry virtually for both the North Babylon and Half Hollow Hills Public Libraries. I was also featured in Campus Times, the Farmingdale State College magazine, for using poetry to help heal our community during a frightening time.
A nurse and a poet
I’ve always believed my two callings — nursing and poetry — belong together. When I returned to school nursing in the fall of 2020, I used poems to teach children how to wash their hands, eat well, and stay safe through social distancing. I even wrote a poem called Healthy Soldiers to rally the kids to the cause.
Because of all that hard work, I approached my principal and spearheaded a video project filled with poetry and music to lift spirits during such a dark time — Belmont Is Making a Difference Everyday, which lives on the North Babylon School District’s YouTube channel.
P.S. I Love You
At the very start of 2020, before everything shut down, I led a “P.S. I Love You Day” assembly in the Belmont Elementary auditorium, writing poems about kindness, caring, and teamwork for the students. The message of that day — that we are here to lift one another up — carried me through everything that followed. I even wrote a poem called P.S. I Love You that I still read at events today.
The pandemic years were hard on everyone. But they taught me that poetry is portable, durable, and deeply needed — and that healing can happen even from six feet apart.
This is part of My Poetry Journey. « Previous: Where It All Began | Next: A Lesson a Day (2022–2023) »