When the COVID-19 pandemic hit New Hampshire in March 2020, it became clear that April - National Poetry Month - would not be celebrated with live poetry readings and writers' workshops as in past years. In an effort to provide a channel for creatively navigating our common experiences, New Hampshire Poet Laureate Alexandria Peary set out to host two virtual poetry writing groups each week in April. At the end of the month, New Hampshire residents were invited to submit their work for consideration in an anthology of poems addressing the COVID-19 pandemic. More than 100 writers submitted their work - each with a unique voice and a fresh perspective on the pandemic's impact in New Hampshire.
In her introduction, Alexandria writes, “Fifty-four of the state’s poets are represented in this anthology, writing of job loss, loneliness and love, masks, social distancing, surreal visitors, uncertainty, graduations deferred, grief, neighborly and less-than-neighborly acts, observing the beginning of the pandemic and making projections about the future, recalibrating or confirming what it means to be human, to be a resident of this region. In a remarkable range of poetic form and style, these writers provide a thirty-day snapshot of what life was like in the Granite State in April of 2020.
Alexandria Peary serves as New Hampshire Poet Laureate and is the recipient of a 2020 Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellowship. She is the author of six books, most recently Prolific Moment: Theory and Practice of Mindfulness for Writing (Routledge, 2018) and The Water Draft (Spuyten Duyvil, 2019). Her third collection of poems, Control Bird Alt Delete, received the Iowa Poetry Prize. Alexandria’s poetry and creative nonfiction have appeared in journals, including the Yale Review, Gettysburg Review, New American Writing, Denver Quarterly, Painted Bride Quarterly, Southern Humanities Review, New England Review, Crazyhorse, and the North American Review. Alexandria specializes in mindful writing—the subject of her 2019 TEDx talk, “How Mindfulness Can Transform the Way You Write,” is available on YouTube—and has given presentations for the National Council of Teachers of English, New Hampshire Humanities Council, New Hampshire Poetry Festival, and the International Writing Program. A professor in the English Department at Salem State University, she also serves as the history editor at the Journal of Creative Writing Studies. As state poet laureate, Alexandria’s main initiative is the establishment of mindful writing workshops for youth survivors of New Hampshire’s opioid crisis, as well as the adults who support them in their roles as social service professionals, medical providers, counselors, and first-responders. Her second initiative is a youth writing conference to be held in the North Country, beginning April 2021.
In her introduction, Alexandria writes, “Fifty-four of the state’s poets are represented in this anthology, writing of job loss, loneliness and love, masks, social distancing, surreal visitors, uncertainty, graduations deferred, grief, neighborly and less-than-neighborly acts, observing the beginning of the pandemic and making projections about the future, recalibrating or confirming what it means to be human, to be a resident of this region. In a remarkable range of poetic form and style, these writers provide a thirty-day snapshot of what life was like in the Granite State in April of 2020.
Alexandria Peary serves as New Hampshire Poet Laureate and is the recipient of a 2020 Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellowship. She is the author of six books, most recently Prolific Moment: Theory and Practice of Mindfulness for Writing (Routledge, 2018) and The Water Draft (Spuyten Duyvil, 2019). Her third collection of poems, Control Bird Alt Delete, received the Iowa Poetry Prize. Alexandria’s poetry and creative nonfiction have appeared in journals, including the Yale Review, Gettysburg Review, New American Writing, Denver Quarterly, Painted Bride Quarterly, Southern Humanities Review, New England Review, Crazyhorse, and the North American Review. Alexandria specializes in mindful writing—the subject of her 2019 TEDx talk, “How Mindfulness Can Transform the Way You Write,” is available on YouTube—and has given presentations for the National Council of Teachers of English, New Hampshire Humanities Council, New Hampshire Poetry Festival, and the International Writing Program. A professor in the English Department at Salem State University, she also serves as the history editor at the Journal of Creative Writing Studies. As state poet laureate, Alexandria’s main initiative is the establishment of mindful writing workshops for youth survivors of New Hampshire’s opioid crisis, as well as the adults who support them in their roles as social service professionals, medical providers, counselors, and first-responders. Her second initiative is a youth writing conference to be held in the North Country, beginning April 2021.