Quarantine from a South Texas Asian
By: Kiron Ang
There once was an Asian in Rome
As in Italy, the country of robes—
He stood in the streets,
And held up a read
That told racists to leave him alone.
That happened more often than not,
Asians not calling the cops—
In France or in Spain,
Or with Texans to blame,
They don't want to piss people off.
Now to continue my joke,
For ponder and prodding and poke:
Consider the reason
For claiming harsh treason
On people that so rarely spoke?!
Appears it to me like a case
Of people just being afraid!
And as I cry in my room,
Like minorities do,
Here, I try to save face.
Our country tell us that they hate US;
The countries we left don't try to reclaim US...
So why do you blame US
For coming from Asia,
When our President can't even save US.
Four Blank Walls
By: Anonymous
Sun streaming through the blinds
Body burning from the heat
Mornings are even worse she finds
Always wakes up feeling beat
The walls are blank and dull
White is all there is it seems
But at least the can lull
Her back to dreams
Days are short or far too long
Not much gets done but time moves on
She only wants to listen to her song
But her homework says “I must be done”
Now time means nothing
So she stares into space
Searching the walls for something
To let her leave this place
She needs more sun
And she needs it real soon
She wants some fun
Maybe then she’ll get to retune
Lakers in 4
By: Matthew Garcia
Quarantine has been hard
Feel trapped in a cell wall
But one thing I look forward to
Is NBA basketball
The NBA finals are coming up
And it’s the Lakers vs the Heat
The heat have good shooters
And a really solid core
That being said
Lakers in 4
A Love Found in Isolation
By: Sania Zimmerman
That reflection is changing,
It moves about on its own.
Changing your view,
Not perfect like the others.
And stuck in isolation what else can you do but stare,
That funhouse mirror is never clear, never perfect
But always correct.
But perfect is your home,
Your home is your body,
Perfect in all its glory,
Every strand of your unruly hair,
Every mole, every scar,
Every little finger,
Of your small hand.
Perfect is you,
The mirror only curved your view.
We Rise
By: Marifer Brenner
One minute we are outside with friends
Amidst so much certainty
And then stuck inside
For what feels like eternity.
The days seem longer,
We miss our friends,
But in every dark tunnel,
There is light at the end.
We can now take a moment
To be warmer and softer
To hear the sounds
Life has to offer.
We are away from our friends,
We are confined to places,
But we can unite by our family’s side
And look at each others’ faces.
We are able to reflect
on how much they mean
and the joy they bring
How they shape our dreams.
So the world
can be a sad and a gloomy place,
Full of tough times
but we must keep a smile on our face.
Because we have learned
how valuable time can be
I will never take for granted
being together, you and me .
2020
By: Leeroy Castillo
The crime of eating cuisine
Lots of time in quarantine
Complacent dangers
Sent us to strangers
Different places
With same faces
Caused changes
Reality
By: Jose Garcia
That bittersweet feeling
of knowing
of seeing
It has to end soon right?
Is all I can keep telling myself
a false glimmer of hope
more legend than fact
but on the bright side
all legends are based on facts
right?
Hey, how's it going?
By: Mario Belmonte
Hey, how's it going?
Are you doing fine?
Take your time.
It's fine.
To be fair, it has been long.
That is, since we've last talked.
It's okay if you're not up for it.
After all, a lot has happened.
My brain's been acting strange lately.
With all that's passed it's turned hazy.
I've become desperate for talks;
For long walks at some parks.
Staying still, keeping safe.
If feels cool, it feels great.
But the interactions I once felt
Can't compare to what I've dealt.
To me it seems difficult to act as though nothing happened.
To continue living my life and forget what I once had.
The steps I'd taken, the things I'd done.
They all seem so distant to what life's become.
I hope one day we can meet,
With smiles for our eyes.
The feelings we will free.
The tears I will cry.
For now we wait,
Patiently that is.
Until that day my friend,
I hope that we meet again.
Nothing changes
By: Karla Hinojosa
Today is the same as yesterday,
And yesterday was the same as the day before,
And the day before was the same as the day before;
This week the same as last week-
This month the same as last month.
Everyday feels the same –
Wake up. Eat. Go to school. Eat. Sleep.
Wake up. Eat. Go to school. Eat. Sleep.
It’s all the same.
Time passes and nothing is different.
But at the same time,
everything has changed.
Everything is different –
There are no hugs, no holding your hand
no kiss on the check, no seeing your smile –
For your smile and cheek are covered by a mask
Your arms for hugs and handholding are six feet away.
Everything has changed.
Today is the same as yesterday.
This week the same as last week.
This month the same as last month.
Nothing is different,
but everything has changed.
A Personal Type of Chaos
By: Sarah Vargas
You’ve grown.
Time has stopped, but you’ve grown.
From the moment that the sun breaks the sky’s darkness though,
To when black ink swallows the setting, orange glow
You don’t feel much development
It must happen while you sleep.
The smooth hair and bright eyes from that first week are gone now
A reluctant mess greets the screen
Hasn’t that thin piece of glass seen much more than your disheveled reflection by now?
And the sadness you hold - or maybe it’s hope,
Pours from your skin
So many worries...
But maybe they’re better hidden for a while
And the paper stars that flap in the wrinkled sky
Seem so far away
They’re so brilliant
So far
Too far, it seems
And months later,
Some of the blows land softer than others, evidently.
Some of the blows reach only you, and not everyone under the blotchy, unpredictable sky.
Do you hate or love this place that you live in?
You do love this place.
But maybe it’s all the things you can’t see that you hate
The isolation, and the dead glare from pixels, and the humming of laptop batteries, and that feeling that creeps up your throat at night, because how can you possibly sleep in your prison cell?
But that’s being dramatic.
It’s only a classroom.
The Public's Historical Absence
By: Kaitlyn Chavero
I always wanted to be left alone
But not like this.
Friends are only on my phone
They're the thing I really miss.
The orange man on TV
He says everything is fine
But from what I can see,
Those people must be blind.
We have all been
Sent to our rooms to think,
And now COVID-19 will sit and watch us sink.
Taken for Granted
By Anonymous
Cloth restricting our faces
Each breath feels heavier than the last.
Hand sanitizer hidden behind shelves
Toilet paper racks threatening to empty.
How will anything return to normal?
Are we destined to live like this?
Six feet apart,
The distance between us grows,
Just as i feel the distance growing within myself.
Loneliness is even louder when you can’t escape it.
Taken for granted.
Simple things such as
Going outside with friends
Leaving the house, faces uncovered.
Regretting all the things
I never did.
I Was Not Prepared for This
By: Lily Welty
Quarantine, oh, quarantine
at first, I was so keen
to stay at home, to eat and relax
but now I’m lonely and bored, that’s straight-up facts
I was simply ecstatic when school said, “We’re closed.”
But then it hit me, will we ever go back? Who knows?
I relish those days; the time spent with friends
you never know how lucky you are till it ends
Hair dye and toilet paper disappearing from the racks
“Quickly! Grab everything, even those weird-looking snacks!”
Gosh, you’d think a world-wide emergency would bring humanity together
But everything’s gone downhill, even the weather
Harry Potter, The Office
all my favorite shows
“Yes! I’m still watching!”
For I have nowhere else to go.
It feels like a fever dream
By: Anonymous
Locked inside my house,
blocked from all social contact.
It has to be fake.
Breathe
By Dana Garibaldi
It was about 10 at night when I saw it,
droopy eyelids adjusting
to the piercing brightness
of my phone screen,
opening and shutting,
opening and shutting.
A wail ripped through the silence.
“Please.”
The raspy voice wrestled its way
through my phone’s speaker.
Pinned to the ground
with a knee pressed on his neck,
the man begged for mercy,
for forgiveness.
“Please.”
The officer stared at him
blankly
as if it were his duty
to make him suffer.
“I can’t breathe,”
he pleaded,
and nobody moved.
“Just breathe!”
announced the customers
through that same phone speaker,
bright smiles, white faces,
as they paraded through Target
just four months later.
They bounced through
the squeaky clean aisles,
waving their mandated masks in the air
like revolutionary flags.
“Take it off!”
They yelled to passerby,
with rock music blasting
through a single BlueTooth speaker,
the whole spectacle being filmed
because they were doing
a great service
to humanity.
“Breathe!”
because a cloth
is a violation
of a human right.
“Breathe!”
because everyone is guaranteed
freedom and happiness
in this country.
“Breathe!”
because our personal interests
are above the lives of others.
“You’re Americans. Breathe!”
they said,
because it was so simple.
Just breathe.
Just, breathe.
Unforeseeable
By: Aaron Garza
Nobody thought it would last this long,
seven months later, we were all wrong.
Isolated, alone,
if only we had known.
Quarantine, you never ending song.
Colors of My Quarantine
By: Li-Ana Ayala
March, Purple
June, Grey
July, Yellow
August, Orange
September, Blue
October, White
Quarantine
By: Li-Ana Ayala
Quiet
Understanding
Alone
Restrictions
Anxious
Nostalgia
Troubled society
In bed
New way of working
Entertainment on screens
It’s Just an Episode
By: Li-Ana Ayala
It started
in late spring
then with an unresolved ending
and unspoken goodbyes
It led into summer
And that was alright
although the outside was sunny and bright,
the inside brought air conditioned fun time
Relaxing on the couch
Then
August came
No excitement
No in store shopping and trying on clothes
School supplies, not all were bought,
because school would be at home
Work time came
and everyday
it was a struggle
for work and play
Next
the end of September came and
brought no joy
For another week would come back by
October began and something was different
a hope
brought by the holiday Halloween
I knew I could get through
Thanksgiving and Christmas are waiting for me
Fall brings me back
Back to the good times
And I’m waiting for more good times to come
I’ll wait
For the end
of this episode
Home
By: Anonymous
My home has always been cozy
It was familiar, comfortable.
I never really minded staying at home,
I have always liked the quiet that
Only my bedroom seemed to give me.
It started off as a couple days
But days turned into weeks and
Those turned into months.
At one point everything felt repetitive.
Sleep
Wake up
Eat
Everyday felt like the other.
The once familiar quiet of my room
Seemed too loud now.
Its funny how a place
You once called home can
Become too suffocating,
That familiar feeling was not there anymore,
Replaced by a feeling of emptiness.
Arc
By: Samantha Herbert
In my little kingdom nowhere near the sea,
I dreamt the dead and missing weren’t cheaters
And hoped Saturn would return
Imagining ways one could flee-
Thinking of how far away you are in meters,
Full of body and none in urn
But nothing can be as nice as getting yourself back together
So then began my waiting
Occasionally I would go sit on the grass
And write down my many plans
To leave unscathed, fresh and bathed
But birds would swoop down and carve holes into my hands out of spite
It sucks to be incapable of change
Still waiting on something that is not coming
Pity to find that the missing don't miss you, for who do you think considers cheating an art form?
Hopefully, one day, you will ache in the same way that I do
Seeing your memories are drawn on foggy windows
On the car ride back home- 5 AM Christmas day
A Piercing Light
By: Anonymous
A jaded person, laying on a firm bed enclosed by four walls
wondering what they did to deserve this, eager to get out, to Niagara falls,
to the Amazon, to the Sahara, hell, even the park that sits not but a few minutes away.
Nothing to do, but stare at the screen on their wall, their mind, decayed.
Trapped in a heavy bag of depression, with no more hope,
but they see a piercing light, the drowning man now has a rope.
They see the light as just another distraction that big black rectangle brings,
this light isn’t like the others, they’re wings
for a man who hasn’t stood in what feels like seven decades.
They begin to see, this light is a ray of sunshine that bores the jagged edges of Cascades.
However, that heavy bag dons their head once more,
doubt takes over, the piercing light is just a myth, engulfed and torn.
No, he has failed to see that this light, is as powerful as 1,000,000 trains,
it will not be weakened, by some catastrophic, death creating hurricane,
it will not be dimmed by some darkened haunting abyss,
it won’t be taken down by Hercules himself. No, this is bliss,
bliss for many that need it in these dark, plague-ridden times
and this mans last hope, so he’ll pay for those crimes
that he never did commit, and wait patiently for the light to come rescue him
You may be asking, what is that light that saves the grim?
It’s football what else could it be.
That Future
By: Jules Alday
Senseless hope and haunting despair
leaves nothing but a trail of trials and tribulations
that lures the lost ones into inevitable misfortune.
Now, in this solitary confinement that shatters my spirit
ever on and so forth with countless fears and torture—
will the curse of this world vanish into oblivion?
Day upon day arrives a new waiting game,
yet how long has it been of me playing them stupidly?
I question the new normal of isolation, distancing,
this sincere and overwhelming feeling of loneliness.
No stranger to meet, no stranger to love,
no one would dare lurk within my vicinity.
How gloomy it feels for fellow humans
to stay away from fellow humans.
Families, friends, acquaintances, lovers, enemies,
how do they do in this precedent time?
Where are they? What are they doing?
Has disaster poured itself upon them
as if it were engulfing raging rain and destructive thunder
onto their homes, teasing their very existence?
Especially him, how is he? Will he be alright?
This plague, this curse, this wretched beast,
I will forever grow to hate it.
I’m helpless and down, growing insane by the minute,
feeling worthless, unable to meet what’s expected of me,
socially distant, imprisoned and lonely,
missing my friends, the ones I crushed on, the people I hated,
fearing that atrocity will live on everlastingly
and hunt me down and kill me—
No, stop it.
It will get better, it will get better.
No matter how I feel, I will await the new dawn,
that happiness, that beautifulness, that peace in the future.
Huayra
By: Jofred Gonzalez
What is in the air
I no longer bare
My freedom is like my tail
And half empty is what seems of the pale
though technology is plenty
My health is rather sketchy
My legs no longer linger
Throughout the school’s grounds
As my fingers respond to everydays ringer
I'm not the best cook so I appreciated the good ol nutritious smuck given on the daily
Along with the discretely spurious juice
Calling it a truce what great lunch ladies
Schoolwork seems like a circle, never ending
While life is a line, with something always pending
And everyone within their confine
Say they are fine
For others lay under a stone
Some near a shrine
As we continue to fret others have placed their bet
On the current President after the dramatic event
Those I know have not lost
at least not yet
I shall end there as I shall not abet
And wish not to become a litigant
Despite the downturns caused by this terrible plight
Perhaps
when this has elapsed
We will cherish certain parts as time will have passed
I wish all the best during the current unrest
As I am no poet and I’m sure we’re all stressed
The Little Green Man
By: Ella Wingate Leave Anonymous
Open the door
But don’t go outside
There is someone lurking
Not even trying to hide
A little green man
With evil intentions
He’ll jump on your hand
And he loves attention
He’ll climb in your nose
And before you know it
Your health will slow
Or you might not even know it
I’ll tell you his name
c-o-v-i-d
He cannot be tamed
So don't go mask free
Staying Home
By: Paulo Troung
Staying home all-day,
I only got video games to play.
Waking up for school online,
Life is actually quite fine.
Covid, or not, I would be at home anyway
