Virtual Poetry Reading: A 21st Century Plague: Poetry from a Pandemic, edited by Elayne Clift

with Michael Bosworth, Elayne Clift, Marion Deutsche Cohen, Barbara Crooker, Charlotte Friedman, Jim Kates, Burt Rashbaum, Irene Sherlock, Miriam Weinstein, and Daniel Williams. 

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84532069956?pwd=c2VzQWMrWnN6a3oxR3ZvaVVEWS93UT09

Meeting ID: 845 3206 9956 – Passcode: 704102

It is more than a year since Covid-19 invaded our countries and our bodies, causing us to long for the touch of loved ones, to fight anxiety and despair, and to adjust to the stunning effects of prolonged isolation. We watched as the numbers of deaths mounted and agreed that it was the worst health crisis we’d experienced in a hundred years. What we longed for were stories about people lost to the insidious virus, and those left behind. We wanted stories of survival, coping, finding our way to the future. In making much of the mundane, 53 poets share 70 poems in the anthology A 21st Century Plague: Poetry from a Pandemic. The poems, by diverse and award-winning writers, capture and share the collective Covid. They reveal that we were brave in our contemplative journey. This anthology adds to the tradition of sharing stories in well-chosen words that move and enlighten us.

Michael Bosworth recently returned to writing poetry and creative nonfiction after a 45-year hiatus. He is on the board of the Brattleboro Commons newspaper in Vermont and an active member of WriteAction in Brattleboro.

Elayne Clift is an award-winning writer and journalist whose work appears in numerous publications and anthologies internationally. Her travel memoir Around the World in 50 Years: Travel Tales of a Not So Innocent Abroad was published in 2019. This is her 4^th anthology.

Marion Deutsche Cohen is the author of 32 collections of poetry and memoir. Her prose and poetry collections include Not Erma Bombeck: Diary of a Feminist 70s Mother, and The Discontinuity at the Waistline: My #MeToo Poems. She teaches Mathematics in Literature at Drexel University.

Barbara Crooker is a poetry editor for Italian-Americana, author of twelve chapbooks and nine poetry books, including Some Glad Morning, published in 2019 by the University of Pittsburgh Poetry Press. Her awards include the WB Yeats Society of New York Award.

Charlotte Friedman teaches Narrative Medicine at Barnard College. Her poetry has been published in Connecticut River Review, Intima, and elsewhere. Her book The Girl Pages was published by Hyperion.

Jim Kates is a poet and literary translator. He lives in New Hampshire.

Burt Rashbaum has published in literary and poetry journals, including Contemporary Literary Horizon in Bucharest. His latest book is Of the Carousel (2019). His work has been anthologized and his books include A Century of Love, Becoming an American, and Tears for My Mother.

Irene Sherlock is a marriage and family therapist. His poems, essays, and short stories have been published in various literary magazines. Finishing Line Press published Equinox, a poetry chapbook.

Miriam Weinstein has published poetry in several anthologies including Reflections on Home: The Heart of All That Is and Broken Atoms in Our Hands. Her chapbook Twenty Ways of Looking was published in 2017.

Daniel Williams has been widely anthologized. He was nominated for a Pushcart Prize in poetry and several of his poems are in the time capsules at Yosemite.