It’s the last Friday of 2020, and that means it’s the last Poetry Friday of the year, as well. Today, we take a look back at a difficult year by way of the poems listeners submitted: from a frontline nurse, to a teenager stuck at home, to an up-and-coming poet who uses writing to manage his OCD.
This year’s Poetry Friday segments represent a timeline of how the coronavirus pandemic took hold of the world and our lives.
It started in mid-March with a reading from Flagstaff poet and put owner JJames Jay on the day he had to shut down his business and lay off his employees.
https://www.knau.org/post/poetry-friday-last-callfor-little-while
Regular Poetry Friday contributor Aeka Joshi shared her poem Needlework in the Pandemic. She’s a high school student navigating school and adolescence from home.
https://www.knau.org/post/poetry-friday-needlework-pandemic
Arizona poet Austin Davis submitted a poem this year from his new book of online poetry Celestial Night Light. He uses writing to manage his OCD, which has ramped up during the pandemic.
https://www.knau.org/post/poetry-friday-poetry-and-ocd-pandemic
But, by far the most powerful reading of the year came from Karen Vanaman, a frontline nurse taking care of patients with COVID-19. She simultaneously broke our hearts and lifted them up with a reading of Marge Piercy’s To Be of Use, which Karen dedicated to her coworkers.
https://www.knau.org/post/poetry-friday-poem-frontline
Poetry Friday is produced by KNAU's Gillian Ferris. All segments are archived at www.knau.org.