QWF Writes

Tag: chroniclingthedays

  • 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 – Roksana Bahramitash

    Chronicling the Days – Roksana Bahramitash

    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 Roksana Bahramitash, writing in April 2020.

    Rumi: Creative Commons

    Solitude has not been a Sorrowtude

    “ Don’t feel lonely

    The entire universe is inside you.”

    Rumi

    I lived part of my life in a culture where the passage of a loved one would call for forty days of morning. And now in the midst of a global pandemic, I am well into my fourth week of self-isolation. Sad as it has been to witness the loss of many lives and the possibility of losing one’s own, a sense of surrender, content, inspiration and perhaps even euphoria has been surfacing. And I was not sure why?

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

  • Chronicling the Days – Brian Campbell

    Chronicling the Days – Brian Campbell

    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 Brian Campbell, writing in April 2020.

    Ça va bien aller.

    Photo: Brian Campbell

    This poster blares from a tattered, papered-over storefront on Bernard Ave. in my neighborhood of Mile End, a voice echoing from what seems a distant past, a perpetual sneer at the snark, at the presumptions of cool. The poster’s been here a few months: to have lasted that long, it obviously must have been respected by the other posterers of cultural events… remember those? (Disclosure: I was one, once.)

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

  • Chronicling the Days – Su Sokol

    Chronicling the Days – Su Sokol

    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 Su Sokol, writing on April 1, 2020.

    Photo: Creative Commons

    Today my 28-year-old daughter moved back in. She brought with her a chromebook, an eight-pack of toilet paper, a coffee grinder, two beers, a bottle of wine, her roller blades, and a colouring book entitled “Fleurs anti-stress à colorier.”

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

  • Chronicling the Days – Wendy Reichental

    Chronicling the Days – Wendy Reichental

    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 Wendy Reichental, writing on Sunday April 5, 2020.

    Photo: Wendy Reichental

    From My Window – Some Covid Views

    Like everyone in this Covid pandemic, I have lost complete sense of time.  I have done my best to keep to a new type of schedule and be cognizant of what month and day of the week it is and where on the spectrum of time we are at; but being in a zombie like state of disbelief can sometimes make you lose track of it all.  Somewhere during these past few weeks, I noticed another strange phenomenon to add to my growing list of new habits – I have morphed into the iconic character Gladys Kravitz, the peering behind her window curtain nosy neighbor across the street from Samantha  Stevens – our favorite witch on a broom on the classic TV show Bewitched.

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

  • Chronicling the Days – Curtis McRae

    Chronicling the Days – Curtis McRae

    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 Curtis McRae, writing in April 2020.

    Photo: Creative Commons

    WE ARE FAMILY.

    “In my dream, a man clad in loose black clothes broke into my home and tied my family to our kitchen chairs with thick manila rope. It was 2 A.M. and I hadn’t fallen asleep yet, which pissed me off more than any other inconvenience…”

    I’d been kicked out of my apartment just before the pandemic got serious, standing on the corner of my street with a single foldable box. I was now lying on my mother’s couch across the room from my younger sister’s human-size teddy bear. I couldn’t see my therapist unless it was a teleconference, which I had an aversion to; I tried to figure out why that was with my new therapist, who was propped up on a chair, but we hadn’t had any breakthroughs. The bear nodded and took notes.

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

  • Chronicling the Days – Amie Watson

    Chronicling the Days – Amie Watson

    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 Amie Watson, writing in April 2020.

    Photo: Creative Commons

    The highlight of my evening the other day was jumping on a cardboard box.

    I’d tried to tear it, but there was a thick layer of tape across the bottom and my nails are short. (To keep feeling as though life hasn’t pressed pause, I’ve kept cutting them even though I’m not rock climbing lately because the climbing gym is closed.)

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

  • Chronicling the Days – Poetry Special

    Chronicling the Days – Poetry Special

    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.

    On Saturday, May 2, 2020, we have a Chronicling the Days poetry special. With thanks to Tanya Bellhumeur-Allatt, Jocelyne Dubois, Jeffrey Mackie-Deernsted, Barbara Kelly, Ann Lloyd, and Carol Katz for their contributions.

    Photo: Barbara Kelly

    Survival Plan – Tanya Bellehumeur-Allatt

    Wake up early.

    Write a poem.

    Let it have angst, but also,

    give the poem hope,

    like a sticky drop

    of maple syrup.

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

  • Chronicling the Days – Audrey Meubus

    Chronicling the Days – Audrey Meubus

    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 Audrey Meubus, writing in April 2020.

    This morning, I Googled “Is it okay to freeze cheese?” in an attempt to beat the expiration date.

    My partner tried calling Service Canada for the 700th time. The call always disconnects before he’s even had a chance to say a word to anyone on the line. I know better than to ask if I can help. All we can do is wait.

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

  • Chronicling the Days – Dan David

    Chronicling the Days – Dan David

    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 Dan David, writing on Thursday, April 16, 2020.

    Photo: Dan David

    Thursday morning. The clock shows 07:14. I wouldn’t care what day it is except today is recycling day. Strangely, my cat didn’t bust into my room at 6 o’clock. Usually, she demands to be fed promptly at 6 AM. Not anymore and I think I know why.

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