An 'Unfolding Poem' for the Moment We're In

An ‘Unfolding Poem’ for the Moment We’re In

On December 31, 2019, Chinese officials alerted the World Health Organization to an unknown form of pneumonia emerging in the city of Wuhan.

They suspected a new virus.

At the time, I did not hear this news. But the news and the newness came finding us.

It spreads like that. I take haiku like vitamins, one-a-day. My vitamin Awe.

It’s an anti-viral thing.

Haiku are nature bound, yet the 5-7-5 always weaves a delicate human filament. Through this frailest of poetic webs, newness outside flows into newness inside and then back out again.

Lederach, John Paul. “An ‘Unfolding Poem’ for the Moment We’re In.” The On Being Project, April 8, 2020.

Presented with the permission of The On Being Project.

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