May and April blended together—mostly because I spent so much time indoors. The weather has improved in the few weeks with more sunny days beckoning me outdoors. I’m not always able to carve out the 30ish minutes to walk around my neighborhood. My workload has picked up as we move into the summer and figure out fall plans.

Poetry has continued to happen in full force in a virtual world. This month I have:

• wrapped up the semester with ENG 202;
• had my weekly poetry Skype dates;
• hosted a virtual reading event with writers from the Boston Tango community;
• participated the Forsythia cleanse and “zalon” with poetry cleanse group;
• attended a book launch reading for one of the cleansers;
• updated my YouTube channel with poetry readings;
• exchanged new work with poet-friends who I used to meet at Boston Public Library; and
• caught bits and pieces of Def Poetry Jamon Facebook while watching ‘The Last Dance’ episodes 9 & 10.

Home-cooked meals have continued with shrimp and grits emerging as my favorite quarantine dish. I ordered my first takeout meal from one of my favorite places to write in my neighborhood. I was glad to be reminded of this place by the high school student newspaper, which has featured local businesses each week.

As my state begins to reopen, I’m looking forward to spending more time walking around town and seeing signs to life as we begin to emerge from our sheltered spaces. Every day feels like a staycation and yet we are “still doing business, just in a different way.”

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