Denise Lajimodiere has a Covid-19 poem --listen or see it below. Also, scroll down for information about her new book.
We Carry the Last Century
My father’s mother died
in the flu pandemic of 1918.
I know little about her,
as a child she survived
Indian wars, treaties, starvation,
forced to live on a newly
formed reservation.
Now, a hundred years later,
I tell my grandchildren
my grandmother died
in the flu epidemic.
I wonder if I will survive
this new pandemic.
I think of Kookum,
twenty-three years old
with two children under four.
Did she wear a mask?
I wear one made
of dragonfly print,
the dragonfly a protector
during wars, a symbol
of rebirth, hope, renewal.
Was she afraid
as death closed in?
Did she suffer, lungs filling,
unable to breathe?
Will my grandchildren say
My grandmother died during
the 2020 Covid pandemic?
I wear my mask
and breathe.
Poem copyright © 2020 Denise Lajimodiere
Denise Lajimodiere's books, including "His Feathers Were Cahins", are listed here.