Covid-19, a poem of hope by Audrey Chuang, 11

Covid-19

by Audrey Chuang, 11

The news rings in my head
The anger and negativity swirling around me
I can’t settle
My heart won’t settle
Everyone's hearts won’t settle
Every pair of anxious eyes
Waiting for the image
For the image
Of crime
Death
The old book that I have read millions of times by now
Is wrinkled
And words are faded
I can’t go outside to play
I can’t imagine without going to the library
I can’t imagine without reading a new book
I can feel my heart beating every time
Something bad happens like the stock
Rising up and down
Like the heartbeat
of a patient
Waiting for the doctor
I can feel the pain that the world is facing
It feels like its pulse is in my hands
Ready like a flying fish
Out in the sky
Open to the new
Open wide world
That used to be
Full of people
Now nothing
But a mere ghost town
Waiting to swallow you up
And make you face the crime
And the pain people are talking about in the news
You know it
You have it
You feel the pain of who you are
Until you fall into the jaws
Of the people
Who recovered
And died
You don’t know who is next
But it may be you
Watch out for the coronavirus
Doctors and nurses
Are waiting to
See how to stop the jaws
Of the Covid-19.

Every time I turn on the TV, I see the Covid-19 update, just like when my mom turns on her phone, all she sees is the updates of more face masks, homemade food or some sort of thing that relates to Covid-19. I wrote the poem ‘Covid-19’ because it mattered to me and the rest of the world. When I started to write this poem, I felt this was very important to me as there was something behind it and I wouldn’t know until I finished it. I knew that on the day I started writing this poem it gave me inspiration to rethink the people and the world around me. What I want to express in this poem is that the Covid-19 is very dangerous and still, some people are not taking it seriously and this is risking doctors, nurses, and others’ lives. Just like a flying fish wanting to fly and see the world and see what it feels to be out of the water, and to watch out for the sky and waters above and beneath, people need to be careful of Covid-19 and keep social distance before we defeat this virus. Always, there is a lantern of hope in my heart, and for that, my poem has the shape of a lantern to let people see it as a kindle of hope.

Audrey Chuang, 11
Portland, OR