5 Poets
#CoronavirusHaikus from members of the Worker Writers School
Christine Yvette Lewis, Seth Goldman, Davidson Garnett, Nimfa Despabilideras & Lorraine Garnett
Christine Yvette Lewis at the PEN World Voices Festival, courtesy of Mark Nowak
By Christine Yvette Lewis, from Domestic Workers United
dismal season. then
I am reminded seeds sprout
from cracks in concrete
rats human vie for
space on urban sidewalk cracks
in tenement walls
By Seth Goldman, from New York Taxi Workers Alliance
Sunday June 14
The Prez is 74
Make Heaven Great Again
Summer 2020
Gonna go out to Coney
Can I bring a friend?
Black Wall Street destroyed
The Year 1921
Hundreds killed in Tulsa
Defund the Police
Activists are saying it
Push Mayors to Act
A Cabbie for Decades
"Wow, You must have seen it all"
Want to see much more
By Davidson Garnett, from New York Taxi Workers Alliance
George Floyd was murdered
iron-knee cop charged with killing
cameras don’t lie
taxi drivers broke
few fares during pandemic
hope no suicides
By Nimfa Despabilideras, from Damayan Migrant Workers Association
(In memory of Arnela Juanico)
Covid 19 took
A mother away, her kid
Waits for her return
No way to explain
No more hugs and no more kisses
Now: just ashes
By Lorraine Garnett, from WWS
civil unrest—non
consequence — non consequence,
of non consequence…
terrorizing streets
white bodies on black bodies
bloody, bloody moon
sorry you’re frightened
when will you apologize
for Jim/ Karen’s laws?
murder on asphalt
Minnesota crushed cockroach
blood morph word — “mama”!
dear Agent Virus,
what they doing to that man?
“child, please close your eyes”…