QWF Writes

Category: Chronicling the Days

  • Chronicling the Days – Alexandre Marceau

    Chronicling the Days – Alexandre Marceau

    In April 2020, we invited writers in Quebec to submit a story of a single day during the strange, uneasy time of coronavirus and pandemic, of social distancing and self isolation, of lockdown and quarantine.

    We’re thrilled to announce that these stories have been gathered in Chronicling the Days: Dispatches from a Pandemic (Guernica Press). To learn more and buy the book, please visit https://www.guernicaeditions.com/title/9781771836579.

    Please also join us on the QWF FB Community page, and let the authors know if their words resonated.

    This piece is by Alexandre Marceau, writing in April 2020.

    Creative Commons: St Lawrence

    Those Who Sing the Blues

    There’s a long corridor of water that separates the last sheets of ice between home and the Island across. Birds are lined up on the other side where the ice begins again, all singing the blues, all standing in the wind. There are two decrepit houses on the Island. A kayak ride over in the summer reveals the sullied foundations from past floods. But now, those birds don’t seem too concerned with any of it. They are closer than 6-feet apart, hopping over each other, gliding in the cold mirrored current.

    To read the rest of the story, please support our community and check out Chronicling the Days: Dispatches from a Pandemic

  • Chronicling the Days – Rita Pomade

    Chronicling the Days – Rita Pomade

    In April 2020, we invited writers in Quebec to submit a story of a single day during the strange, uneasy time of coronavirus and pandemic, of social distancing and self isolation, of lockdown and quarantine.

    We’re thrilled to announce that these stories have been gathered in Chronicling the Days: Dispatches from a Pandemic (Guernica Press). To learn more and buy the book, please visit https://www.guernicaeditions.com/title/9781771836579.

    Please also join us on the QWF FB Community page, and let the authors know if their words resonated.

    This piece is by Rita Pomade, writing on Monday, March 23, 2020.

    Photo: Rita Pomade

    Leaving France in the Time of COVID-19

    When news first broke on French TV about COVID-19 raging through Italy, I had a twinge of discomfort, but believed it would be contained. When it hit a town on the French border, my partner and I still felt safe. We were in the centre of France in a small village outside Orleans in a house belonging to his deceased mother. We were reluctant to see the writing on the wall having only arrived two weeks before for a 6-week stay.

    By the time we faced the gravity of our situation, our airline had stopped running, and the airport we were to have left from had closed. The only airport functioning was the Charles de Gaulle outside Paris—3 hours away by car. By chance, we managed to secure one of the remaining flights on Transat Air, but had no idea how we’d get to the airport. All buses, trains and shuttles to the airport had stopped running. Drivers needed permits to say why they were on the road, the only reasons being work and a divorced parent driving a child.

    To read the rest of the story, please support our community and check out Chronicling the Days: Dispatches from a Pandemic

  • Chronicling the Days – Marie Tully

    Chronicling the Days – Marie Tully

    In April 2020, we invited writers in Quebec to submit a story of a single day during the strange, uneasy time of coronavirus and pandemic, of social distancing and self isolation, of lockdown and quarantine.

    We’re thrilled to announce that these stories have been gathered in Chronicling the Days: Dispatches from a Pandemic (Guernica Press). To learn more and buy the book, please visit https://www.guernicaeditions.com/title/9781771836579.

    Please also join us on the QWF FB Community page, and let the authors know if their words resonated.

    This piece is by Marie Tully, writing on Monday, April 6, 2020.

    Photo: Marie Tully

    I am entering my fourth week of social distancing, and confinement. We, my husband and I, started social distancing two weeks before it started being recommended. When I started really listening to what was happening in Wuhan in December (2019), my guts started talking to me. They (my guts) are rarely wrong. We cancelled appointments that involved big crowds of people, concerts, suppers with our gang of friends, because some of them were returning from vacations outside of the country. My guts told me to sit up and take stock of the situation, which I did. It turned out they (my guts) were right. Everyone in my entourage however, thought we were a little paranoid, but I knew something was coming, something big, something unbelievably big.

    To read the rest of the story, please support our community and check out Chronicling the Days: Dispatches from a Pandemic

  • Chronicling the Days – Andi Stewart

    In April 2020, we invited writers in Quebec to submit a story of a single day during the strange, uneasy time of coronavirus and pandemic, of social distancing and self isolation, of lockdown and quarantine.

    We’re thrilled to announce that these stories have been gathered in Chronicling the Days: Dispatches from a Pandemic (Guernica Press). To learn more and buy the book, please visit https://www.guernicaeditions.com/title/9781771836579.

    Please also join us on the QWF FB Community page, and let the authors know if their words resonated.

    This piece is by Andi Stewart, writing in April 2020.

    Image: CBC

    The Pandemic of an Outsider.

    “Korean man stabbed near NDG.” The headline said. It continued, “Attack believed to be racially motivated. Suspect under investigation.” The article spilled through my screen as I read. Stories of similar situations had been appearing with greater frequency. They contributed to the construction of the new reality that began just two weeks ago. A world where new terms like “viral load”, “quarantine”, and “social distancing” entered the layman’s lexicon.

    I finished the article and tossed my phone aside. I shook my head; “… that can’t happen here.”

    To read the rest of the story, please support our community and check out Chronicling the Days: Dispatches from a Pandemic

  • Chronicling the Days – Carole Thorpe

    Chronicling the Days – Carole Thorpe

    In April 2020, we invited writers in Quebec to submit a story of a single day during the strange, uneasy time of coronavirus and pandemic, of social distancing and self isolation, of lockdown and quarantine.

    We’re thrilled to announce that these stories have been gathered in Chronicling the Days: Dispatches from a Pandemic (Guernica Press). To learn more and buy the book, please visit https://www.guernicaeditions.com/title/9781771836579.

    Please also join us on the QWF FB Community page, and let the authors know if their words resonated.

    This piece is by Carole Thorpe, writing on April 20, 2020.

    Susanna Moodie & family in Belleville, Ontario.
    Photo: The Canada Site

    Pandemic Blues.

    The distance between my Lenovo Ideapad and Samsung smartphone. South window with African Violet. Over Easter weekend, one solitary purple bloom. After Easter Monday, the bloom drooped, withered. I pinched it off, placed it in a blue-purple glass bowl that I made in Calgary, where I worked as a glassblower for many years.

    To read the rest of the story, please support our community and check out Chronicling the Days: Dispatches from a Pandemic

  • Chronicling the Days – Clare Chodos-Irvine

    Chronicling the Days – Clare Chodos-Irvine

    In April 2020, we invited writers in Quebec to submit a story of a single day during the strange, uneasy time of coronavirus and pandemic, of social distancing and self isolation, of lockdown and quarantine.

    We’re thrilled to announce that these stories have been gathered in Chronicling the Days: Dispatches from a Pandemic (Guernica Press). To learn more and buy the book, please visit https://www.guernicaeditions.com/title/9781771836579.

    Please also join us on the QWF FB Community page, and let the authors know if their words resonated.

    This piece is by Clare Chodos-Irvine, written on March 25, 2020.

    Film still from Lady Bird (2017, IAC films)

    Our apartment is small and everything lives inside of handmade ceramics. I spend the mornings drinking cups of tea and cutting long, thin slices of sourdough. I eat them while watching a video about someone else who’s stuck inside their own small apartment. It’s quiet except the wind is pushing through a small gap in my window, and I can hear it whistling. I can imagine a cat sitting on my bed, licking itself in the sunlight, except I didn’t think ahead and buy a cat before all this started, so it’s just a patch of sunlight and a pair of sweatpants I haven’t put away yet.

    To read the rest of the story, please support our community and check out Chronicling the Days: Dispatches from a Pandemic

  • Chronicling the Days – Timothy Niedermann

    Chronicling the Days – Timothy Niedermann

    In April 2020, we invited writers in Quebec to submit a story of a single day during the strange, uneasy time of coronavirus and pandemic, of social distancing and self isolation, of lockdown and quarantine.

    We’re thrilled to announce that these stories have been gathered in Chronicling the Days: Dispatches from a Pandemic (Guernica Press). To learn more and buy the book, please visit https://www.guernicaeditions.com/title/9781771836579.

    Please also join us on the QWF FB Community page, and let the authors know if their words resonated.

    This piece is by Timothy Niedermann, writing in April 2020.

    Photo: Creative Commons

    Isolation and the Shadow of Death.

    Strangely enough, the self-isolation inflicted on the rest of the world by the coronavirus pandemic hasn’t affected me much. You see, I was already isolated.

    A few years ago, I was forced by circumstance to leave Montreal and return to my family home. But my personal misfortune was a boon to my parents, who were then in their late eighties. Both soon developed serious health issues, so my presence became essential. They are now in their mid-nineties. Their health is excellent, and, thankfully, their minds are still sharp, and they have me. All of which means no nursing home—they are able to stay in the house they have lived in for 60 years.

    To read the rest of the story, please support our community and check out Chronicling the Days: Dispatches from a Pandemic

  • Chronicling the Days – Noah Allison

    Chronicling the Days – Noah Allison

    In April 2020, we invited writers in Quebec to submit a story of a single day during the strange, uneasy time of coronavirus and pandemic, of social distancing and self isolation, of lockdown and quarantine.

    We’re thrilled to announce that these stories have been gathered in Chronicling the Days: Dispatches from a Pandemic (Guernica Press). To learn more and buy the book, please visit https://www.guernicaeditions.com/title/9781771836579.

    Please also join us on the QWF FB Community page, and let the authors know if their words resonated.

    This piece is by Noah Allison, writing in April 2020.

    Photo: Noah Allison

    Spiders.

    My main objective as visiting scholar at McGill during the 2019-2020 academic year was to complete my dissertation. Although I had spent many years living in New York, my perspective from growing up in Southern California was that Montreal’s long winters would facilitate productive writing outcomes. Even though it was cut short by the onslaught of the virus, for the most part, it did.

    To read the rest of the story, please support our community and check out Chronicling the Days: Dispatches from a Pandemic

  • Chronicling the Days – Karen Ocana

    Chronicling the Days – Karen Ocana

    In April 2020, we invited writers in Quebec to submit a story of a single day during the strange, uneasy time of coronavirus and pandemic, of social distancing and self isolation, of lockdown and quarantine.

    We’re thrilled to announce that these stories have been gathered in Chronicling the Days: Dispatches from a Pandemic (Guernica Press). To learn more and buy the book, please visit https://www.guernicaeditions.com/title/9781771836579.

    Please also join us on the QWF FB Community page, and let the authors know if their words resonated.

    This piece is by Karen Ocana, writing in April 2020.

    Image: Andrea Kastner

    Chronic City

    The days drag on. The story is the same. The story changes. The story is grim. But it’s not altogether grim. The number of infected, the number of dead climbs. More and more countries are under lockdown. But in some places, they are loosening the restrictions. Some places have a plan, a detailed one. Others do not want to say, or do not know what to say. A friend of mine is ill with COVID-19.

    To read the rest of the story, please support our community and check out Chronicling the Days: Dispatches from a Pandemic

  • Chronicling the Days – Harry Rajchot

    Chronicling the Days – Harry Rajchot

    In April 2020, we invited writers in Quebec to submit a story of a single day during the strange, uneasy time of coronavirus and pandemic, of social distancing and self isolation, of lockdown and quarantine.

    We’re thrilled to announce that these stories have been gathered in Chronicling the Days: Dispatches from a Pandemic (Guernica Press). To learn more and buy the book, please visit https://www.guernicaeditions.com/title/9781771836579.

    Please also join us on the QWF FB Community page, and let the authors know if their words resonated.

    This piece is by Harry Rajchot, writing on Saturday April 18, 2020.

    Photo: Harry Rajchot

    Despite a string of cold windy days, sometimes rainy. I’ve left the house every day, no matter the weather, a fairly solitary activity until today. Today was one of the few bright, shiny days in a while. Sunny,, little wind. I go for a walk. In the before-COVID-19 time–B.C.–a warm spring day was a gift. Today I cringe, knowing many others would be out, tired of being cooped up in their homes. Where I live, Cote St. Luc, long wide streets, and plenty of parks used to offer walking places.

    To read the rest of the story, please support our community and check out Chronicling the Days: Dispatches from a Pandemic