Greetings from the Solstice in Seattle, Disappointed with Rising Covid Numbers and Re-openings, Feeling Discouraged with PoetryWorld
- At June 21, 2020
- By Jeannine Gailey
- In Blog
- 6
Greetings from the Solstice in Seattle
To cheer me up pre-root canal (which I am terrified about because of the threat of cornavirus – dentist’s offices are supposedly pretty high risk – and because dental work seems to make my MS symptoms flare), we took our first day trip since the lockdown in February on the first pretty day in June, up to Ollalie State Park and the lavender farm in Snoqualmie.
We saw a giant herd of elk (our first time seeing them ever in the Northwest) on the way up in North Bend. The lavender was still a little early but still beautiful. Weeks Falls was quiet, as was one of my favorite hiking spots by the Snoqualmie River. Ollalie State Park is always pretty sparsely attended, but it has my highest recommendation.
Being out in nature did take my mind off all the pandemic and other stress. The solstice in Seattle came in with the first whisper of sunshine, hardly the feeling of the longest day of the year. Here are a couple of shots from the trip:
Disappointed with Rising Covid Numbers and Re-openings
Here in King County, where I live, we just hit stage 2 of the re-opening, though Washington State’s numbers, like a lot of the rest of country’s, are turning worse, not better. Yesterday night there was a block party in my neighborhood, older people and children, lots of beer and laughter, nobody with masks on, and I wondered if these people were stupid or suicidal or just oblivious. Do they forget there is still a plague on, one that has no good treatment, that we are still a year away from a vaccine at least, that it can cause permanent organ damage if it doesn’t kill you? At the wineries, drunk people cheek to cheek, no masks, stumbling along through the paths. I know this exact thing is happening in a larger scale all throughout America right now.
I feel so disappointed in people. For one, their refusal to face scientific facts. For two, their inconsideration towards people like me – vulnerable to disease because of immune problems, just “it’s okay for you to die, it’s not going to happen to me.” Selfish at best. Murderous at worst. Their boredom and refusal to acknowledge facts will lead to death and then, even more death. It’s tremendously depressing how predictable it is. I knew America didn’t value poetry. I’ve learned that it also doesn’t value science. Or the lives of me or people like me. It doesn’t value anything that isn’t easy and make it feel good. I feel less and less like an American, and more like an alien here, like I don’t belong here. Tell me, are you feeling this too?
Feeling Discouraged with PoetryWorld
Along with my disillusionment with America, I’ve been equally feeling discouraged with the PoetryWorld, which I knew from a young age (well, from the time of my MA in my early twenties) was flawed and full of people who might take advantage of other people, but it still surprises me when it happens. There have been a lot of shifts in power in the PoetryWorld, and maybe something good will come from that.
And what can I say? I’ve been writing and submitting since I was nineteen, taking a dozen years to work in tech, getting too sick to continue working in tech, and turning back to my dream of being a writer. I had hoped at this point I’d have more to show – that I’d have had a little more success by now. That I wouldn’t still be sending out my manuscripts (with endless checks, endless months of waiting) to publishers, still knocking at the doors of bigger presses, still fighting for…more nothing? What am I doing with my life? I am a fighter, but sometimes even I get tired. And today is one of those days. We try to be good literary citizens, volunteering at literary magazines, serving on boards, donating and writing endless book reviews and…what is the result? Not that you do it for a reward, but…have I been naive, trying to do things the right way, trying to be kind, trying to be scrupulous? Anyway, I know from social media that others are giving up and turning away from poetry right now, which I think is a shame, because now is the time we need poetry. I know I do. I turn to reading poems that moved me back when I was nineteen. I read new books full of passion and intelligence, and they give me hope. Plus, I can’t stop writing poems. I have the start of a third poetry manuscript of my hands now. I just need a publisher to believe in one of them. Those of you who are also discouraged – just remember, the world is turbulent now, turning on its axis, eclipses and planets in retrograde, there are plagues and protests and whispers of war and ruin. We just have to make it through. That is our job now – to survive, to be around to rebuild a better world, and a better PoetryWorld.
Jan Priddy
I feel your concern: “nobody with masks on, and I wondered if these people were stupid or suicidal or just oblivious.” Just too entitled to believe it could happen to them and too selfish to care about the impact their choice has on others. imo
Thinking positive thoughts in your direction. I look forward to reading your next work.
[We do desperately need poetry. I think people have noticed. Claudia Rankin poem “Weather” is on the cover of The New York Review of Books.]
Celia
Here in Miami the beaches and malls are full of the unmasked. It’s terrifying. So much misinformation has made people just give up, rely on anecdotal experiences. So-and-so went to the beach and is fine, so I’ll be fine too. I’ve heard idiots say black people and children are immune. My neighbor says he can’t catch it bc he’s such a badass. To him it’s an issue of masculinity. Real men don’t get COVID. Meanwhile, the virus soars in the black community, kills children, and seems to kill more men than women. The universities are reopening in the fall bc they need to make $ from the dorms. I’m glad I read your book, bc I think this is the end of the world.
Jeannine Gailey
Thanks Jan.
And thanks, Celia. Children get this fifty percent less than adults, but risk a strange killer syndrome. African Americans are actually a greater risk of death from Covid. Men have been dying at a higher rate from covid since the beginning. I don’t think the media is doing a great job of educating people, either, but the lack of science literacy is shocking. I hope this isn’t the end, but it does seem like a time of great change.
Poetry Blog Digest 2020, Week 25 – Via Negativa
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Lesley Wheeler
I value your poems, Jeannine, so know there are readers out here believing your books will happen, and that we’ll want to read them! It may actually be a gift in disguise not to have a book being published in this disaster of a year–I’m rooting for an acceptance soon with a book in 2021. There should be a book series showcasing poetry about disability, by the way–is there?
Jeannine Gailey
Thank you, Lesley!