January 25, 2021– In the first weeks of last year’s pandemic, “NPR asked listeners to respond to the art with a poem, a style of poetry called ekphrastic. For inspiration, NPR-resident poet Kwame Alexander selected two paintings: Heatwave by Kadir Nelson and Salvador Dalí’s Young Woman at a Window. Both show women inside looking longingly out at the world. The paintings struck a chord with those who experienced the global coronavirus pandemic in quarantine. We received more than 1,300 submissions. Alexander took lines and excerpts from some of the presentations and created a community poem of hope. ” Check it out here. (15 readings)

Read full story

To take actionWhether you consider yourself a poet or not, try writing a haiku (or other form of verse) about your experience of social distancing.