Like the rest of you (I hope), I’ve been staying at home for the last seven weeks or so.
I’m not getting much work done, but I’ve been tweeting a lot, and I realized today that many of these tweets–particularly the poems I write–read like diary entries. Looking back at the last several weeks of tweets, I can see the story of my quarantine. Maybe some of these episodes will remind you of yours?
I’d love it if you commented with a poem about your own quarantine, thus far.
The last “normal” day:
I’m trying to stay chipper in the face of the news. The rain here in L.A. held off till I finished my outstanding run/workout in the park. And now the much-needed rain is here! I received a job lead. We had a great time at the Getty yesterday on Shushan Purim. Baruch Hashem.
Mar 16
Things feel relatively mostly normal at the moment. The usual musings of “How do writers who write so well punctuate so badly?” and “Oooh, this is so much better if I switch that hyphen to a semicolon!” #editing
Mar 18
My tiny home is
full of humans but I long
for an hour alone.
My last run:
Running this quiet
morning, forgot till passing
neighbors at 6 feet.
Mar 18
Snapped at kids twice. I
am so tired–slept well
but think all day long.
Mar 18
Thing I learned about myself today: I need to #sing, loud. Got in the car w/husband for 30 min to park where there’s a view and sang to the radio, very loud. I feel human again.
Mar 18
Past ten. Three of my
kids still chatter. Will I bribe
them to wake at eight?
Mar 19
Five family mem-
bers vote the youngest kid off
our tiny island.
Mar 20
Challah dough rises
in kitchen. Children slow to
rise from their warm beds.
Mar 22
Married twenty years.
What blessing! (Even without our
scheduled getaway.)
Mar 22
For the 1st time in years, I want to buy flour 2 wks before turning over my kitchen for Pesach, & there’s still no flour in the store. I will hold onto my last 3-ish cups so I can make a home-made challah for next Shabbos (store-bought I can find plenty). No baking fun w/kids.
Mar 24
I have never loved Costco before like I loved it today. Also, I don’t remember so happily waiting in a line for 45 minutes to get in someplace since the last time I attended a movie on opening day, over 20 years ago.
(later that day)
2 haiku:
Hello Costco. Thanks
for bread, TP, and walnuts and
social distancing.
Seeing full shelves of food
soothed my fearful heart. Feel
calmer already.
Mar 25
Wore bandana at
kosher store today. Worth it–
I scored marshmallows!
Mar 26
Youngest resists sleep,
would rather critique big
brothers’ dish-washing.
Mar 26
Power went out–thank
God school sessions were done for
the day already.
Mar 27
Home smells like #Shabbos.
So grateful we’re #SafeAtHome.
Tonight, l’chaim!
Mar 28
Former carpool parent of two of my kids reportedly in bad shape due to Covid-19. He’s about my husband’s age. Very shaken up this Motzaei Shabbos. Otherwise, very refreshed by a cozy Shabbos w/just my family, totally at home.
Mar 29
Not a haiku, but a poem:
Today, the husband of my daughter’s
Pre-1A teacher died.
My daughter is 12 now &
telling her is not urgent.
I haven’t decided to when to tell her or
if I should tell her at all.
She hardly remembers that teacher;
in fact it was a hard year.
But I cried.
Mar 31
I used to hate the smell of ammonia, but the combo of coronavirus and Pesach coming is turning into a scent I adore.
(I also keep thinking about how apparently they used to sell “ammonia cokes” at drugstore counters in Baltimore in the ’50s and ’60s according to my mom.)
Mar 31
Today’s #haiku for #coronavirus: SMALL PLEASURES
Spoke with my sister.
Zoomed with a good friend alone at
home. Walked with husband.
Mar 31
Haiku: Chat w/My 10-year-old During “School”
No, your brother is
not stupid because he can’t
attach video.
Mar 31
It is a strange state of events when people’s posts about how they have most of their #Passover cleaning done &/or are already cooking #Pesach food reassure me rather than annoy.
Apr 1
This morning’s #haiku for #coronavirus: MORNING PERSON BLUES
Everyone else is
still sleeping, and I want to
work out. Must I wait?
AND THE ANSWER IS YES, FOLKS, BECAUSE MY IDEA OF A NICE INDOOR WORKOUT IN MY CURRENT MOOD INVOLVES LISTENING TO ALICE IN CHAINS AT THE SAME TIME.
Apr 1
I woke up this morning contemplating how different this quarantine/social distancing experience would be if it had happened 25 or 30 years ago.
Hardly anyone had cell phones.
Many people were still paying big bucks for long-distance calls.
No Zoom.
No streaming.
No ebooks.
Apr 1
Aaaand I just got a rejection letter on a full request.
Yup. Definitely a “workout to Alice in Chains” morning.
Apr 4
On Shabbos, we prayed
& played boardgames at home &
coped with three tantrums.
Apr 4
My 12-year-old, want-
ing to sit outside and read,
cried when I said, “No.”
Apr 5
As tempting as it is to hang out here in my (finally) quiet home, I must sleep in order to spend all day tomorrow turning over the kitchen.
PESACH IS COMING!!! SUPER EXCITED!!!
Apr 5
Since we aren’t having any guests for yom tov, it will be our first seder in many years without my husband’s extended family. Thus, it’s the first time in many years I won’t have someone who actually left Egypt at our seder table.
Apr 6
Attended my first Zoom bris. Many happy tears shed. Mazal tov to my cousins.
Apr 7
Plenty dessert for
#Pesach. Matzah, grape juice too.
Who needs other food?
Apr 8
EREV PESACH 5780 , L.A.
A #poem for #Passover2020
Our apartment smells of meatballs, &
my daughters wear new, matching dresses.
The menfolk sport freshly trimmed hair
with their old suits.
There will be no guests
but plenty of love
&
hopefully
a few giggles.
Chag sameach!
Apr 8
My husband and daughter are singing “Echad MiYodeya” in the kitchen as they dry dishes. It’s getting super Pesach-y around here. Just an hour and a half till candlelighting!
Apr 11
A #haiku for #Pesach during #coronavirus-related social distancing.
Our seders had no
guests but went longer. No frills
but many thrills. Joy!
(Also, Kid #1 & Kid #3 had a full-on machlokes l’shem shamayim on Night #1. Wowza.)
Apr 13
a #haiku for #coronavirus: IRONY
Today will be zoo
day. We’ll admire other con-
fined creatures remotely.
Apr 13
The joy my 10 y o expressed
just now
upon finding an overlooked bag of Pesadik Bissli
on the
highest
shelf of the Pesach cabinet
was so genuine
and so pure.
Apr 19
I have turned into a person who checks obituaries daily. I just got furloughed from one of my editing jobs (the consistent one). I don’t have the privacy or headspace to write under quarantine (we are a family of six in a tiny apartment). I’m not sure I recognize myself anymore.
Apr 21
One of my writing students just got engaged to one of my first grade students from nearly two decades ago, and I am floating on a cloud (when I’m not running through the apartment shrieking from joy)! ❤
Apr 22
Does sleeping through last night’s earthquake make me more Californian, or less? #losangeles
Apr 22
Inspired by my kids yesterday, I wrote a letter to my MIL in Hebrew today. (My Hebrew spelling & conjugation are awful.) In it, I confessed, “I write Hebrew like a little girl.”
My daughter, aged 12, upon me telling her of my confession.
“Yes. Yes, you do.”
Apr 23
Today’s #haiku for #coronavirus times:
My career might be
on hiatus, but at least I
have time for #chessed.
Apr 23
I avoided news all day…and then made the mistake of clicking on something and now my rage is so potent I might not be able to sleep for another hour. Grrr…
Apr 24
2 #haiku for #TweetYourShabbat
1.
Challah baking and
chummus smooth. Potato starch
brownies next. Save flour!
2.
Chickens for roasting
might need to thaw more. Good thing
#Shabbat’s coming “late.”
Apr 24
God works in mysterious ways. We often get ice cream for #roshchodesh. I didn’t plan on snagging any today b/c of quarantine even tho. it’s HOT here in L.A.
My lovely Filipina neighbor just dropped ice cream w/a hechsher at our door. It’s not a big thing, but it’s a BIG thing.
Apr 26
A #haiku for #Sunday:
Laundry sprayed and sort-
ed. Dishes come next. Shabbat
seems so far away.
Rebecca Klempner 