These Days: Poetry of the Pandemic Age

by Lynn Ungar

Starting with “Pandemic,” which went viral in March of 2020, these 43 poems explore life and meaning in the extraordinary time of crisis that ensued over the next ten months.

Genres: Poetry

Paperback

Published January 1, 2020

Reviews

[Pat Nixon · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the poem, written 3/11/2020, that introduced me to Lynn Ungar...and resonated so deeply with me as I began sheltering in place at that same time.
Pandemic

What if you thought of it
as the Jews consider the Sabbath—
the most sacred of times?
Cease from travel.
Cease from buying and selling.
Give up, just for now,
on trying to make the world
different than it is.
Sing. Pray. Touch only those
to whom you commit your life.
Center down.

And when your body has become still,
reach out with your heart.
Know that we are connected
in ways that are terrifying and beautiful.
(You could hardly deny it now.)
Know that our lives
are in one another’s hands.
(Surely, that has come clear.)
Do not reach out your hands.
Reach out your heart.
Reach out your words.
Reach out all the tendrils
of compassion that move, invisibly,
where we cannot touch.

Promise this world your love–
for better or for worse,
in sickness and in health,
so long as we all shall live.

[Darceylaine · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've enjoyed Ungar's poems for years, her wise perspective on the world, her careful use of language. As we began to confront the pandemic in early 2020, Lynn released many of these poems on social media and we were moved by how they spoke to the specific moment in time we were experiencing together. I have often used her poems in worship or small group contemplation, and people are always moved by her words. SO glad she released them in print so we have them close at hand.

[Pam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Her book of poems from the first months of the pandemic (last one is called “November.”) I am impressed by how well she captures the moods of the times and yet inserts more hope than I often felt. Thank you, Reverend Ungar.

[Jakub]

She wrote it, I read it. Sometimes that is enough.

It is fun to explore the idea of how the events of 2020 + will be presented and explained in years to come.

A good reminder that “anything worth doing is worth doing badly” (p. 22).