creative writing on environmental justice
As the devastation of the pandemic over the coming months pulls into focus, that the deaths from this virus will in a best-case scenario outweigh the total lives lost in the Vietnam War, I am brought into contact with my personal experiences of grief: my father’s death, friends with chronic illnesses, romantic relationships ending, and my feelings of insignificance . . .
Again, Papa drags the TV remote from my little girl,
his grimace listing all the ills of our nowadays children—
true, such headiness didn’t exist even in my own time;
and once they start the territorial dance of Agama agama
I quickly zip my lips and run into the kitchen
before his festering eyes ask how she became a dictator.
Mia’s a swashbuckler—I . . .
I’m in Tasmania, and here, it’s starting to look like we’re beating the virus. Every day, the numbers fall. Yesterday, there were zero new infections.
We closed our borders hard and early. We sent people home; we made rules. We’re in total lockdown – that’s why we’re winning.
The streets are so quiet and empty I feel as though I’ve been transported back to my childhood . . .
Pandemic life.
Resting on my bed dayindayout typingmousingtyping frantic to meet these deadlines—Irish immersion, rushing by like the Shannon in flood—tá mé go maith, cad é an t-am é, dé luain dé máirt dé luain dé máirt dé luain dé máirt dé ceadoin—and meanwhile this mad massive dive into all things wild boar—where did you come from, fine piggy, fine sow? How . . .
“Thank God we have the work,” my godmother and I keep saying to each other, “thank God we have the work, I don’t know what we’d do without the work.” She’s a painter, and I write. We said it last year when my dad, her big brother, died unexpectedly. We’re saying it now.
Everyone copes differently with stress. . . .
Dear Everyone,
I hope you’re safe and healthy and away from risk; I hope you’ve got somebody to be with in this. I hope you’re settling in. Getting comfortable, if you can. It becomes clear this isn’t going to be over quick. Everything has been happening so fast, but there’s going to be time to think, to process. For some . . .