Time is Gentle

Time feels strange right now. Some days it speeds by and other days it creeps. Most days it feels warped and unsteady with months and days rolling into one another unmarked. Before the pandemic, I felt like I had a solid handle on time and schedules. But now, virtual learning consumes most of my days. The constant glow of a screen feels hypnotic. And rituals that mark time (social gatherings and such) have fallen to the wayside for now.

Earlier this year when Ed Madden, the Poet Laurete of Columbia, SC asked for poems about time, I submitted Time is Gentle. At the time I wrote the piece I had no clue how my relationship with time would be transformed in six months as my workload increased dramatically because of the pandemic. Reading the piece now, feels comforting, like a cup of coffee with a good friend who thinks you are awesome just the way you are.

The piece appears on The Comet Bus along with work from other poets. A big thank you to One Columbia, The Comet, and all the people who made this project come to life. As an advocate for literacy, I love the idea of poems on a bus, just waiting to be read. To read more, just follow Ed Madden on facebook or instagram where he posted one poem a day from this collection during the month of September.

Time is Gentle by Danielle Ann Verwers