Starfish on a Beach: The Pandemic Poems

By Margaret Randall

Starfish on a Beach: The Pandemic Poems grew out of the first months of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. Randall began writing these poems out of and about the phenomenon, one or three and day. When some were posted on Facebook, readers responded immediately to identify with her take on what we were all experiencing. These poems reflect the fear, isolation, and horror we felt as society -- as we watched public life close down, people were urged to stay distant from one another, wear face masks, and wash our hands frequently. Many of us lost jobs; some of us lost businesses. We saw beloved family members and friends sicken and some of them die. We watched helplessly as sources of income disappeared and the future seemed uncertain. But I also began thinking about other aspects of life through the lens of this situation: Have we brought this plague upon ourselves by our carelessness and lack of accountability to global warming? Does our social organization really meet our needs? Do we have the healthcare we need and deserve? Why are some communities suffering so much more than others? How might we think about changing what doesn't work? These poems reflect all this and more. They are offered in concern, anger, and also hope for a different future. These poems predate the killing of George Floyd, so the focus remains on health and isolation.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Independent Publishers Group
• Release date: Oct 1, 2020
• ISBN: 9781609406165

Margaret Randall

Writer and social activist Margaret Randall is the author of more than eighty published books, including To Change the World: My Years in Cuba (2009) and, most recently, As If the Empty Chair / Como si la silla vaca (a bilingual book of poetry) and First Laugh (essays). She lives in Albuquerque.

Book preview

Starfish on a Beach: The Pandemic Poems

© 2020 by Margaret Randall

Cover art, Two Starfish on a Beach

(Rábida Beach, Galápagos Islands)

photograph by Margaret Randall

First Edition

ISBN: 978-1-60940-615-8

E-books:

ISBN: 978-1-60940-616-5

Wings Press

P.O. Box 591176

San Antonio, Texas 78259

Wings Press books are distributed to the trade by

Independent Publishers Group

www.ipgbook.com

Due to the 2020 pandemic, no Library of Congress cataloging-in-publication data was available.

Acknowledgements

As the coronavirus pandemic unfolded, many of these poems were posted on Margaret Randall’s Facebook page. Some also appeared, either in English or Spanish or both, in: Altazor (Chile), Revista Casa de las Américas (Cuba), Rio Grande Review, and Tricontinental Newsletter (United States).

Contents

Introduction

COVID-19

We Do Not Know

A Picture is Worth

Our Resolve Must Be Stronger

Starfish on a Beach: A Fable for 2020

Statistics

Beneath the Waves

Fashioning Poems from the Trembling

Our Conversation has Changed

The Quick Turn of a Screw

Who Knows How Many Socks and Scarves

One-Part Dread to Two of Calm

I Miss

Clean

Better than Nothing

State of Exception

This Time No One Saw Coming

Memory Tries to Get Our Attention

Holograms of Hope

Ying Ying and Lee Lee

Something Will have to Be Different

If Each Facemask Came with a Poem

The Virus as Metaphor

Mother’s Lavender Ruana

Trap a Minute or Two

Crisis in Present Tense

The Poet Embraces a Changed World

Like a Flower’s Pollen

The Sun Will Rise Tomorrow

Welcome the Next Clear Breath

Blue or Pink

Spiral

Eighty Times More

The Pandemic Picks and Chooses

David against Invading Goliath

Remember Your Eyes

Some Questions in a Time of Crisis

When the Crisis is Over

About the Author

These poems are not for the dead but for those who survived this time around, for the dead have lived their lives while the survivors must live with their loss.

INTRODUCTION

I wrote these poems during the extraordinary time between March and May 2020, when the world suddenly found itself