New Normal – Sarah Mullen Masks conceal The universal emotion of happiness The facial expressions that make us human And connect us as a species Quarantining isolates Human beings Who are social creatures by nature Made to live communally Screens drain Our energy and motivation We could stare at a screen for hours Until it was mandatory Wearing a mask, staying apart, and communicating via technology The very things that must be done to reunite us make us feel more divided than ever The very things that must be done to protect us contradict our innate human nature Oh, the irony.
Through a Screen – Bella Masso Through my screen, through your screen Oh, that painfully familiar scene The pixels dance across your face The sound only discombobulates The artificial light traveling through the space Only for me to freeze on your machine The hum of the motor fills the dead air Though at the hospital next door, the decay has become commonplace We forget how lucky we are to have a safe place To use our little laptops To clip clap clop on the keys To connect, though virtually One day, relief will come Drawing by: Sara Ledyard For those of us left to see it.
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