The first week of the #viralpoetry challenge saw some excellent entries around the topic of the pandemic. What I loved about these entries is the different focuses that the writers had - no two were exactly the same in their thinking or their execution. I'll keep this challenge running for a few more weeks yet before deciding on a winner or two. Read the original challenge here, and go read a few poems under the #viralpoetry tag.

I believe these poems are a really important record of the last year and a half where we've struggled to overcome the challenges and trauma that we may not have experienced in this lifetime. Your poetry really touches my heart in so many ways!

There's 50 HIVE up for grabs, maybe a bit more. All you need to do to join is:

• Reblog this post
• Write your poem and drop it in the comment section below as a link
• Use the tag #viralpoetry
• Mention this post or the original contest post
• Tag two other Hivers who you think should write!
• Post in any poetry or writing community that suits

As much as I wanted to include everyone's entire poem, that would make this post too long, so I summarised their ideas and included my favourite lines. I really encourage you to committ to commenting on at least two of these below - they deserve your attention!

---

---

---

In this poem @paolazun wrote about the boundaries of four walls which imprisoned and isolated us. There's a sense of hope and possiblity despite the despair and uncertainty that came along with being locked down. @paolazun, in her poem 'Opening the Third Inner Eye' asserts it's possible to feel freedom in our minds even if each day is mundane. By opening her mind's eye, she finds herself in a world of possiblities in this 'now', this present moment:

I am the observed observer, connecting with my presence.
Opening myself to a higher power,
Letting myself be guided by the essence.
Creating the world of my dreams.
Sailing the seas of uncertainty.
Carrying the anchor of faith with me even though I wander in the zone of hopelessness.

@carmenm20, in Social Distancings, Go Now poignantly talked about how separate we became from our families and the trauma of social distance. She talks of losing family members, and prays for saviour from the virus, in a kind of prayer:

Fortitude that I ask my blessed God to save us from this virus,
to save us from this virus, please, I ask you.
May this nightmare end and may the light appear and shine.
And let us look at a new day, with joy and the sympathy that there is no more illness that keeps us away from the family that one day we distanced for the love of your life and mine.

@melbourneswest took a decidedly more political turn, and I liked how he focussed on Australia in particular and the loss of jobs, and how the workers still had to risk their lives to keep the economy going.

The poor get poorer and risk their health, while the business class forces everyone to death by stealth.
Back into the city you must, back into the city you have to, back into the city or else, back into the city so I can steal your health, wealth and life, goodness grief Australia is in strife!
Taking orders from a government that can't even vaccinate a suburb, but they're already getting worried about the inner city pay.
We've learned so much, we've learned so little now that economic lunch is coming down to the crunch.
95% of workers resisting the call to return, anger in the elites belly's burn, no one wanting to jump on the COVID train for a turn.
What will tomorrow bring? What song will they make us sing?
Only time will tell, but what's certain is that alot of people will be going to hell.

In this poem 'Desolate Bodies', @universoperdido writes about that sense of separateness from everyone and the terrible longing we all felt and still feel for connection. The mask was even worse, preventing us from really seeing each other:

I would like to speak to your face,
without alcohol or barriers,
that are covering our brokenness,
that you look at my lips and I at yours,
that you be the one to decipher my face
and see how I really feel.

@@@chinyerevivia 's poem here was heartbreaking, talking about dealing with the virus whilst still grieving over her mother's death, and how trauma can confuse and suppress memories. It does end on a beautiful hopeful note. Highly recommended reading!

I made peace with the pain
Now, I'm embracing the grief
I loved the darkness
But the light loved me more
Like the virus, the ache may never go away
I'll be here always, facing it.

In this poem @franchalad blends anxiety over the pandemic with concern for his country, Venuzuela: 'A pandemic, a country and a crisis//They take away my sleep.'. Like many of the speakers in these poems, there is a refusal to give up hope:

I just want to be happy
I don't want to waste
I have doubts to clear up
Venezuela where will I find you?
I want to be with you
But you keep moving away

Beyond the Atlantic
I have dreams to find
I know that someday I will find
A reason
To go on.

@warpedpoetic joined in with this stunning piece, showing us how poignant imagery can be. There's a sense of stepping out into a frightened world, the anxiety of separation, of longing for loved ones - but also of overcoming and stepping out into the day to find sustenance. Do yourself a favour and read the rest of the poem!

Where are all the faces of my friends?
Where are all my lovers' limbs?
My arms are not enough to carry
my fear. My arms are not enough
to carry death

@trucklife-family wrote about the pandemic as plandemic, and, refusing to subscribe to the lies and confusion, she recreates her own reality, stronger than before, recreating a new world!

So I break away,
break away to disobey,
to follow my own truth
to create my own reality!
To finally see the opportunity, that lies within this insanity!

@stairway2heaven in this post reminded me of how we all realised that nature has a way of levelling us all as it doesn't discriminate.

As a species we always seek to be superior and to control,
but it is that greed consumed by illusions that now condemns us and reminds us of how fragile we really are,
how fragile we really are, nature takes its place and reminds us, one more day how vulnerable we are,
one more day how vulnerable we are and with our lives and through breathlessness we have to pay.
A new weapon of natural cleansing has been adapted that does not judge gender, sex or condition
beginning as an outbreak this beginning and now a threat that deprives us reminds us that we will always be at the mercy of so many,
that we will always be at the mercy of so many changes, that in our life externally we have no control,
at the moment we adapt and accept with resignation and melancholy the new normality.

I was just about to wrap up the week and there was another poem here by @jakim7, praising those who work in the medical field during covid 19 as angels:

Pain and solidarity unite us in this vast pandemonium
in this vast pandemonium where
we are not alone, those angels
have not gone away completely, I see them
every time I see a doctor, a nurse, saving lives at the
nurse, saving lives at the risk of
of their own, they are guided
by those who were called
that afternoon in March 2020
when fate plunged its dagger ...

I adored each and everyone of these so much - please do continue to write, and drop your links below THIS POST, which I've pinned in my blog. I want to keep it going for another week or two, as I believe these poems are an important record of the pandemic and how we have all coped and survived.

Awarding all entries but 3 here a small beneficiary on this post - you're all in the running for the final draw, and are welcome to enter more than once! I'm also sending a 5 HIVE post to three entries I thought were particularly emotive, evocative and well written in terms of literary devices - @universoperdido, @chineyerevivia and @warpedpoetic. Remember it's super hard to judge these and I thought ALL of the poetry was wonderful! Well done to you all. I hope you are able to reblog this post and share it amongst your friends so that we are able to collect more viral poetry for Hivers to read. I hope you've loved reading them as much as I have!

Bring on Week 2!

With Love,

Are you on HIVE yet? Earn for writing! Referral link for FREE account here


_{PeakD - The Best Way to Experience The Hive Blockchain}