Sheltering with Poems: Community and Connection During COVID

A review by Marilyn L. Taylor
Poet Laureate of Wisconsin (2009-2010)

It’s inevitable: as soon as the next couple of decades have flown by, younger people will already be asking us what life must have been like during the devastating days of COVID 19. A simple response?  Just hand them a copy of the essential new anthology from the Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets and Bent Paddle Press, titled Sheltering with Poems: Community and Connection During COVID.

The book is a handsome, carefully curated (and occasionally illustrated) volume in which 74 Wisconsin poets present a multi-faceted collection of COVID-generated poems. It’s already bringing solace and support to contemporary readers, along with perceptive answers to the profound questions that future historians (our grandkids?) will be seeking. 

I’d suggest starting out with the clear-eyed, informative introductory essay by former Wisconsin Poet Laureate Max Garland—and then move on to the poems themselves, which delve deeply into the realities of grief, courage, and consolation. You’ll even come across a glimpse or two of wit, which so often helps to move us forward.

And when you’ve finished, you might want to reserve an accessible “home” for this collection on your bookshelf—perhaps to re-read to yourself, and almost certainly to share with others who are close to you. Before you’re even aware of it, Sheltering with Poems will have become an heirloom, handed down to you from a cataclysmic time and place.