Any piece of art created during the pandemic has a unique feel to it, given thatmany of us still don’t know how to feel about one of the biggest health crises we faced as humans. Every time I read a book set around the pandemic, brought to life in 2020 I feel this could be how so and so person survived, this is someone’s coping mechanism, someone’s escape from life when the lines between fiction and reality blurred in one of the most dangerous ways. The anxiety is similar to watching several episodes of a eerie series, like The Last of Us, and that is what happens when reading Poetry in a Pandemic by H.M. Gooden.

I am not someone who picks up non-fiction frequently, but the format of this book was so simple and easy to get into that it didn’t feel like I was getting a closer look into someone’s life. It felt like reading a story that felt real, filled with raw emotions and simple words. Each chapter is one month divided into different dates with a mix of poems and paragraphs.

By the time I reached the third chapter, I was invested in this book. I wanted to be sure that this person was fine by the end of it, so I couldn’t stop reading. Reaching the last page was like a marathon I was running and sure there wasn’t going to be a winner but I had to read the endpoint as soon as possible.

One of my favorite lines from the book was: “I may not go down in history but that’s okay you see because at the end of the day, I’m always proud of myself.” If the pandemic has taught us one thing it is to put ourselves first and do things that make us happy. Reading this book was a journey where I noticed subtle changes that we often miss in our day-to-day life, like, the slow and gradual change in the season, the shift from winter to spring, the sun shining a little brighter and then the leaves falling and clustered on roadsides in autumn. It was so much easier to appreciate the small things through these poems.

My biggest fear going into this book was that it might rely heavily on the work experience of the author, however, Poetry in a Pandemic by H.M. Gooden is more about getting a deeper perspective of life and not in a preachy way, which is often boring.

The only thing that didn’t work for me was often between the lines of the poem, the intention behind it got confusing and it would take two or three tries to get into it, it sometimes made me a little detached from the poems.

I think this book is beginner-friendly if you are new to poetry or bigger metaphors or poems are not your general deal. I appreciate the author’s efforts to give us these glimpses of her life that are relatable, powerful, and above all hopeful. It’s a short read which readers can easily finish in one or two sittings. Since the book is an account of 2020 the year of the pandemic, some of the poems are a little overwhelming, but nothing that one can’t handle.

It’s written in a unique format which is also something useful for people who don’t read nonfiction a lot. Poetry in a Pandemic will leave a mark on you, making you rethink one of the hardest years we faced, and in the end, it will give you the hope you need to begin preparing yourself for the next one. As we are slowly inching towards the end of 2023, it’s the perfect time to pick this book up. 

Pros:

• Easy to read,
• short chapters
• unique format
• Portrays emotions in a good way

Cons:

The poems sometimes distracts you from the theme of the book.

Cover Score: 7/10

Book Score: 8.5/10

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This review was made by Akansha