Gillian Ferris

Schools across the country are beginning to resume in-person classes. The return marks one year since the coronavirus pandemic catapulted students and teachers out of their classrooms, and dropped them in front of their home computers. KNAU checked in with three families to see how they managed this past year. 

Kayla Gundrum and Odin

Kayla: I’m Kayla.

Odin: I’m Odin.

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 goes without saying that 2020 has been a tough year filled with a lot of uncertainty. Many people turn to nature for solace in times of trouble, and living on the Colorado Plateau, we are fortunate to have an abundance of open space to do just that. In this week’s Poetry Friday segment, Rose Houk, a writer for KNAU’s Earth Notes series, shares her thoughts on the healing power of the natural world, as well as a poem by the late American anthropologist and nature science writer Loren Eiseley.