How to Write Poetry During Coronavirus?
With the advent of social isolation due to the virus, many of us have felt quite overwhelmed with the news nearly bombarding us every day. It is a fact that the virus is all over the world, and we shouldn’t feel bad for wanting to shield ourselves from the pointillistic reports we hear ubiquitously.
Nonetheless, if you’re looking for ways to entertain yourself in the midst of this crisis, I here bring you a really creative one. It’s called a “found poem,” and I’ll give you the instruction on how to create your own.
I. Instructions
First, what we’ll do is to take a piece of news you’d like to puppeteer and copy it in a word document as I do below.
Once you have copied the text of the news, you’ll proceed to scratch every word that you don’t want to use. This can be extra information or words that may be too academic or technical. I do recommend, however, to read your article fully because if you want to fuse the essence of the article into a poem, you’ll have to know what the article is about and use that knowledge to help you navigate the text.
On another page, you’ll make a bank of sentences where you’ll copy only those bits and pieces you thought could be of some use in your poem. (See sample below.) It doesn’t matter if you have a lot of phrases you want to use. You’re the writer; you call it.
Next, once you have your bank of words, read on and check if a story is being told.
If you wish, tailor the order of the sentences while they are still numbered. The numbers are there to help you keep track of every idea.
Ask yourself, what is the tone of the story, what words, make it so? Are there any spaces that can be articulated through silences on the page?
Copy and paste your bank of words on a final page and unnumbered them.
Ask yourself how many people the poem is talking about and create stanzas through themes.
Don’t be afraid to add function words or even full sentences.
Read it again, cut the excess, edit. There! That’s your poem.
II. Sample of copied, pasted and scratched down news.
When social distancing extends to the birth of your own child
Paris (CNN)"Be prepared to give birth alone," the midwife said placing two round plates on my bump. As I let her words sink in, my eyes welled up and I watched my baby's heart rate quicken.
In just over four weeks' time, as the world continues to reel from the worst global health threat we have seen in at least a century, I'll welcome a baby, my first. And, because of Covid-19, I'll work through the animal pain of labor with a stranger by my side. A midwife, not my husband, will be the only person who can hold my hand.
During a pandemic, it is of course a privilege to be worrying about the circumstances surrounding a new life rather than mourning the death of a loved one.
As a journalist I'm used to planning ahead. When I understood France and its 67 million people would be on lockdown I immediately went online to order the crib, pram and newborn necessities, I figured that if France followed Italy it could also close its nonessential factories.
Over the past week, I've adjusted to life in isolation with my husband. I canceled the baby shower, signed up to live prenatal classes online. And I've embraced the new steps taken by the French government to erode personal freedoms.
To justify ventur ing outside my Parisian apartment -- for groceries or medicine from the pharmacy -- I handwrite a government-mandated permission slip and I walk within a kilometer radius of where I live, if I stray any further I risk getting fined.
With more than 1,000 deaths and 22,000 confirmed cases in France, I know these emergency measures are necessary to stem the spread of the coronavirus.
But as my maternity leggings grow tighter so too does the bubble I live in as restrictions make it ever smaller.
I knew my parents wouldn't be allowed to meet the baby, but I didn't anticipate that my husband would be banned from the hospital, including the delivery room.
In France, for now at least, the Ministry of Health has not announced a nationwide blanket ban on birthing partners, but some individual hospitals have deemed it necessary to protect patients and medical staff. A health care system in New York announced similar measures, CNN reported over the weekend.
Hospital internet forums across the country are now full of anxious expectant mothers asking the same question: "can my partner be by my side when I give birth?" Some are looking into the possibility of home births in an effort to avoid turning up on the day and being told their partners can't come in.
I seek out answers for a living but, in these unprecedented and uncertain times of rapid change, what's permitted today could be forbidden tomorrow. No one knows what lies ahead.
The midwife caught my look of distress and tried to comfort me.
"You can always FaceTime your husband from the delivery room," she said, smiling.
Having a healthy baby is my priority, and perhaps it's fitting that the first pair of hands my newborn will feel will be those belonging to the medical personnel.
Millions have placed their lives in those hands looking to be healed.
NOTE:
This article was published by CNN, written by Saskya Vandoorne, March 25, 2020. You may find it here: https://edition.cnn.com/2020/03/25/europe/vandoorne-diary-france-pregnancy-intl/index.html
III. Sample of a bank of extant words, sentences and ideas from the excerpt.
As I let her words sink in, my eyes welled up my baby's heart rate quicken.
the world continues to reel from the threat of the century
I'll welcome a baby, with a stranger by my side.
will be the only person who can hold my hand
surrounding a new life than mourning the death of a loved one.
I'm used to planning ahead
I understood the lockdown immediately
the crib, pram and newborn necessities, I figured
its nonessential factories.
Over life in isolation. I canceled the baby shower,. And I've embraced the new steps to erode personal freedoms.
To venture outside my a government-mandated and I walk within a kilometer radius any further risk.
these emergency measures stem
my maternity leggings grow tighter so too does the bubble I live in
my husband banned from the hospital, including the delivery room.
nationwide blanket ban on birthing partners, some individual have deemed it necessary to protect patients and medical staff.
Hospital internet forums across the country are now full of anxious expectant mothers asking: "can my partner be by my side when I give birth?" an effort to avoid turning up on the day and being told their partners can't come in.
I seek out answers for a living unprecedented and uncertain times of rapid change. No one knows what lies ahead.
The midwife caught my look of distress and comfort me.
smiling.
A healthy baby is priority, the first pair of hands my newborn will feel will be those belonging to the medical personnel.
Millions have placed their lives in those hands looking to be healed.
READ THE POEM BELOW
Aloof in threat
As I let her words sink in, my eyes welled
up
my baby's heart rate
quickened.
the world continues to reel from the threat of the century and I,
I'll welcome a baby with a stranger
by my side. She will be the only person holding my hand
surrounding new life, while many mourn the death of loved ones.
I'm used to planning ahead, so I got
the crib, pram and newborn necessities, I figured
nonessentials: over.
Life in isolation. Accompanied of new steps
to erode personal freedoms;
To venture, to walk within a kilometer radius.
These emergency measures stem me; lockdown immediately;
my maternity leggings grow tighter as the bubble I live
in shrinks.
My husband banned from the hospital, even
from the delivery room; a
nationwide blanket ban on birthing partners,
any further risk?
Now internet forums are full anxious mothers asking: "can my
partner be by my side when I give birth?" they make an effort
to avoid turning up on the day and being told the
answers.
Living unprecedented and uncertain times
times of rapid change.
Today,
No one knows what lies ahead.
The midwife caught my look, distresses and comforted me - smiling.
“A healthy baby is priority.”
The first pair of hands my newborn will feel will be those, hers,
where millions have placed their lives to be healed, and life
has sprouted out of-
like a bird cupped in the unlighted, yet warm, touch of palms.
Found poem and article by Leonardo Chinchilla
Photo by Nine Kopfer
