Today we continue our poetic exploration of the pandemic. Deborah reads her “Kneading the Challah,” which was published in the anthology Pandemic Puzzle Poems from Blue Light Press. This is a beautiful musing on the power of ritual like this had during the pandemic and how ritual can braid together generations. What rituals do that for you? Write to today's prompt in our show notes, where we also list resources mentioned in our conversation.

Remember that terrible time that's disappearing in the rear view mirror? The sense of impending doom, the fear and isolation, before we knew exactly how it was spread and what to do to stay alive. The lock down. The great pause. Except for 'essential workers' to whom we owe so much. Sue shares her poem distilling details from that time and a tiny bit of hope as nature flourished in the quiet. For the written poem with artwork, as well as links to the fascinating world of epidemiology as well as the prompts and open mics, see our show notes and our website.

We read two short poems of Deborah's about wildfire, the first "Dry Lightening" is a frightening description of an approaching wildfire and if to evacuate or not, followed by "Return of the Golden Crowned Sparrows" which is about the resilience of nature, sparking a wide ranging conversation - rewilding, the ecology of fire, grace and the possibility of hope for nature (and ourselves) are all touched on. Lots of links in our show notes!