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Pandemic Poetry & Art Healing Project

Poeming in a Pandemic

Is it possible to write a poem 

during a pandemic and not 

address it or the circular nature

of time and how nearly everything 

adores being alive?

 

Should I be sewing instead 

of poeming or sweating 

to virtual Jazzercise?

How many baths is too many in a day?

Is this shade of blue essential?

Tidewater, Calypso, Resolute Blue

Will I remember how to hug you

when it’s time again?

How long to hold on, when to let go? 

 

Are words like CRISIS a cloak 

allowing everyone

to finally notice their breathing body?

On the surface or deep

or in that place humming along with 

the rest of the world?

Bathing with Magnolias, by Lyla Merle Morrison

Bathing with Magnolias Lyla Merle.png

Brie Huling, Writer

 

About the poem:

Poeming in a Pandemic is a meditation on stillness during the world pandemic. What is it like to steep in the questions? What does it feel like to show up with yourself exactly as you are? This poem acknowledges the narrative of the external landscape and it's pressure for busyness but allows for the breath to be more than enough.

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Bio:

Brie Huling is a Eugene, Oregon based poet & high school teacher & therapeutic yoga teacher. She has spent the last five months sloooooooowing down to be with her houseplants, 25 pound mainecoon kitty Mr. Miyagi, playing in a new vegetable garden, and learning inside of a blended family love experiment. Brie is full of gratitude for all that is and knows she has much more to learn.

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You can find Brie at her website here.

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Lyla Merle Morrison, Artist

 

About the painting:
I was inspired by the contrasting emotions of the poem, which I found to be both melancholy and hopeful. I attempted to convey the same feeling through the figure of the girl bathing, looking down and away, surrounded by the bursting life of magnolia flowers.


Bio:

Lyla Merle Morrison is an artist and creative director living in Los Angeles, CA. She's a lover of opposites with an insatiable appetite for figuring out why things happen and how things work. Things she can't live without: crazy hair dye, high-quality graph paper, inappropriate people, good pens, adventure. 

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You can find Lyla at her website here and on Instgram here: @lylamerle

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