The Pandemic Year / in Review, Told in Haiku / By My Facebook Friends

When the COVID-19 pandemic officially began on March 11, 2020, most of us believed that quarantine would only last two weeks. How naïve we were!

By the end of that month, it had already become clear that there was no end in sight. We faced a new normal, and each of us had to come to terms with it in our own way.

With that in mind, on March 31, 2020, I asked my friends on Facebook to write a haiku, letting me know how quarantine was going for them. I reminded them that writing a haiku is simple. All it takes is three lines--the first with five syllables, the second with seven, and the third with five again.

One year later, on March 31, 2021, I tagged everyone who participated the previous year in a new status, asking for an update. I did not show them what they had written the year before.

How did my friends fare over this, the longest year of our lives? Some stayed more or less the same. Others, the year murdered their optimism. And a few reached the end of March 2021 feeling pretty good, glad that vaccines are becoming available and life may return to normal again.

We’ll start with the ones that didn’t change much, then move onto the ones that got worse, and end this on a high note.

Christopher

2020

Work slowed to a crawl

Migraines come more frequently

Homeschooling is hard

2021

Work slowed to a crawl

Became a teacher again

My contract ends soon

Chris literally began with the same first line two years in a row. How’s that for continuity? He, like many of my friends, is preoccupied with schooling, both as a teacher and for his children.

Quinn

2020

Animal Crossing

Listening to mourning doves

It’s not bad so far

2021

Spring has come again

I’ve started the seeds on time

My son’s hair is long

Quinn stayed focused on nature. She told me separately from her haikus that the year has been very difficult for her, but that was not reflected in her poems.

Jess

2020

All work done from home

Watching Buffy slay demons

So not all that strange

2021

Alarm rings at 8

Turn on computer and work

Then go back to bed

Jess didn’t have a very exciting year, it would seem!

Parker

2020

Homebody, so it’s

Okay for the most part but

tree fell on Bill’s car.

2021

Health anxiety.

Plagues exhaust me but at least

I can wear sweatpants?

Parker started the year as a homebody and ended it the same way, in sweatpants. Between a tree falling on their partner’s car and their health problems, can they get a break, or what?

Ed

2020

I have no excuse

So I’ll clean the garage now.

Checking Facebook first.

2021

The longest twelve months

Now my second shot is due

Two slow weeks to go

Ed’s doing okay. I know for a fact that he did, in fact, get that garage cleaned out. He’s the only one to mention getting a vaccine, that lucky duck!

Susannah

2020

Still have to teach teens

Why won’t they at least pretend

they did the reading?

2021

Risked my life each day

so teens can ignore me when

I discuss Kafka

Susannah stressed about being an in-person schoolteacher in New York City, the first epicenter of pandemic in the USA. As you can see in both haikus, teaching literature to teenagers can be a thankless job.

Jules

2020

The cat is snoring

I make work that kids won’t do

Are there enough snacks???

2021

Cat quality time

less pleasant than expected

So many scratches

Another schoolteacher, the first of our cat-lovers. Unfortunately, Jules’s cat took to scratching her. Remember when we were all stressed about getting enough food at the start of the pandemic? That was a trip!

Anna

2020

It’s the dream, really

Almost finished a cross stitch

Still too much laundry

2021

I am deeply tired

Lost my skills to be social

My body is soft

Something tells me that, one year later, Anna’s lost her feeling that quarantine is “the dream.” She’s not the only one who mentioned weight gain or cross stitching!

Julie

2020

Wake yoga run eat

Work work walk dog eat work work

Eat clean sleep repeat

2021

Hair falls down my back

Pounds around the middle pack

Mental health I lack

Julie started the quarantine alright, staying fit and keeping her house clean. One year later, she’s gaining weight and worrying about her mental health! It’s been a rough year for a lot of us.

Kate B

2020

I still work all day

Stitching, untouched, on the couch

The cats are watching

2021

I never leave home

Lexapro is my best bud

Cats are everywhere

Kate B, unlike Anna, didn’t get her cross stitching done. She went from still working to never leaving home and taking anxiety medication. But the cat situation remained unchanged.

Kate R

2020

So much PJ Masks

There’s no continuity

They make a bad team

2021

when I watch TV

I can see people's noses

and it panics me

Kate R focused both her haikus on TV programming. At the beginning of the year, she bemoans the awful children’s programming her kids watch, and by the end of a year of masking, she’s just shocked to see exposed noses!

Erin

2020

Migraines from the screens

Attention span is so small

Distance learning blows

2021

First I taught on Zoom

Then I had a baby boy

How my life has changed

This schoolteacher had a pandemic baby, her first child, and she is now overwhelmed with happiness.

Kate J

2020

oh crippling fear

kicking kids out of the office

thousand piece puzzle

2021

when everything slowed

big and small sorted themselves

why not start over?

The way Kate J’s haikus changed over the year is quite sweet. She goes from crippling fear to, having sorted things out, cautious optimism.

Megan

2020

Kid quality time

until lunch, when I start work

Ready for a nap

2021

My brain is fallow

But my garden is alive

Let hope germinate.

Megan went from napping to letting hope germinate. This one was my favorite of the bunch. Like many of us, she wants to come out of the stillness of this year stronger, more creative, and better than ever.

Let's all let hope germinate this year! We had to lie fallow for a year, but our gardens are alive. Once we get vaccinated, let's all get together, help each other, and work toward a world that's far better than what we once imagined was possible!