Poem with Sources of Joy in Quarantine, Crowdsourced in Washington, DC

We don’t run poetry very often. It’s just not our specialty! But sometimes I borrow a line for our splash text — especially from seasonally-appropriate poems — and sometimes a poem makes its way in through allusion or reference.

Occasionally, though, a poem is newsworthy in and of itself. We send you daily emails and so the content should be timely, and there was something very timely about a poem by Jessica Salfia that we linked, in our “Also” section, as “a poem made of pandemic palaver.”

Salfia’s “First Lines of Emails I’ve Received While Quarantining” touches on the delicate question of email etiquette in “these times.” The world is ending, yes; but many of us are still going about our business, dashing off missives with varying degrees of solicitude. As attention focuses on “quarantine artifacts,” little is more worth preserving — little so quickly captures the mercurial mood of the moment — than these vexingly oblique asides, opening salvos to messages about sales figures, report launches, late edits, or whatever it is you email about. It’s worth reading, and remembering.

Reader Rebecca Galanti saw this and composed her own poem. Instead of using emails she had received, she mined the responses you — our readers — supplied to the form survey we sent out asking what is bringing you joy these days. (Survey, responses.)

So this poem, put together by Rebecca, is also by and for all of you. Enjoy.

things making 730DC readers happy during quarantine

the tree at the corner of the street that looks luminous in the street lights

knowing that warm weather will be here soon

the sweet little flowers popping up everywhere, in gentle defiance.

the sun is shining

I just noticed new leaves growing on the hydrangea bush I thought I had killed

DC may be closed, but blossoms everywhere are open!

now I know how to spell quarantine

more time with my sweet tiny dog

my cat, who is the cuddliest lil dumplin

my dog is the happiest!

my fear of missing out — is all gone.

walks with friends!

neighborhood running

morning jogs and yoga outdoors

finding the time to exercise to clear body and mind

going on a walk somewhere it’s acceptable to yell. yelling into the void helps

every half hour: take one conscious, active, deep breath

trying to make ugly feelings into cute art

I just found out my upstairs neighbor plays the french horn

I’m going to buy an accordion and learn how to play it and I’m so excited

lots and lots of art will come out of this

it’s soothing to create something beautiful when my insides feel like such a mess.

remembering that the sun still rises every morning & so will I

art by Lily Strelich