Boxed Poetry: An Isolation Issue

MAY 2020/VOL 1/ISSUE 2

BOXED POETRY

AN ISOLATION ISSUE

CONTENTS Corna Poem

By Gabriella O.

HopeÂ

By Gabriella O.

Again

By Abigail K.

Found Poem

By Eliana Ward

From the Editor Change brings on new ideas, new friends, and new ways of living. They allow you to experience life in unusual ways. We use video chat or texting to communicate with our family members and friends. I spent time emailing, video chatting and texting Abigail and Gabriella, the contributors to this magazine. They both gave me good insight on their poems and personalities. We also decided to include a short biography.

Curating an issue with the theme of isolation was encouraging and witty way to face an epidemic.

Not only were my fellow poets and I able to do something fun together, we are also able to share it with you. We hope you find the poems’ new take on isolation uplifting and maybe inspire your own isolation poem. We would love to see it.

d r a W .

R. W

By Gabriella O.

Corna Poem: Isolation

Isolation Such a lonely word When solitary confinement Is so much more preferred

So I'm alone Stuck at home Relating this poem Forbidden to roam

Peace and quiet, you assume, Not in any room!

The only normal human being is far away on Zoom Two weeks you say, and with it sealed my doom No place to hide from my brothers' games Which, I might add, are so lame And my terrible temper I'm supposed to tame?

When this is over I will never be the same

The noise is unbearable, My laundry quite unwearable My Facebook posts "unshareable" No mistake, it's terrible.

Why people like disinfectant wipes Hand sanitizer, facemasks, Lysol, Skype And I, despite my introverted type Cannot, I say cannot understand this hype Of lying home in bed Jumbling up my head Quarantine they said Better that than dead

I disagree in full Down to my last toilet paper roll My only friend, the fridge, in which I find console Betrayed me and now I'm paying a desperate toll

I thought I wouldn't mind Leaving the world behind For any length of time Watching my life unwind Countless time to spend With only the furniture for friends Only the walls to offend And only the couch to contend I thought it would be fun But when it's said and done I'd rather be a nun Than stay inside this house all day without the sky or sun Than stand around and wait In a vegetative state (Something I really hate) Awaiting my fate

For the world to figure out Why they took this route What this is all about I just want to shout And there is nothing more to say Or write about anyway That I could stay at home this way One. More. Day.

Hope Hope is the thing that makes hearts tick It flickers sprightly as candle wicks It brightens the hours of the darkest nights It starts the battle that wins the fight And the ones who carry this precious light Are the ones who see their goals in sight The ones who inspire the watching crowd Are the sun beyond the threatening clouds The light is carried by those who love And from Him have they received For Jesus is the joy and hope To all who trust and believe.

By Gabriella O.

Author's Note: My name is Gabriella Ostrander. I'm fourteen and I live in Hyden, Kentucky. There are five people in my family. Some random facts about me: I love animals, pizza, chocolate, and summer. I have brunette hair and green eyes, and I am a farm girl turned urban. I'm a bit of an introvert, but don't hold that against me! The more you get to know me, the more I tend to be goofy around you!

I have always been interested in the arts but I only really got into writing, painting, drawing etc., when our family moved from Michigan to Kentucky to work with Big Creek Missions. God closed and opened a door for me. We are not allowed to play sports in Kentucky due to school policy, and us being homeschooled. I loved playing soccer, softball, and even had the opportunity for flag football.

Leaving it all behind was hard, but God helped me realize it was time to move on, and what he had in store for me was better. Becoming an artist filled the blank where sports had been, and continues to bring me joy. God has always been there for my family and I through everything, and I'm so grateful for his loving kindness!

BYÂ ABIGAIL K.

I woke up one morning Ready for school My mother is in the kitchen Preparing a bowl of gruel She looks up when she sees me Her hands on her hips “There’s no school for the rest of the semester,” she says I could have flipped But then she said there was online school "Something’s hit the nations It’s a sickness going wide Last night the government finally told us It was time to stay inside. ”I stumble to a chair as dumb as can be How could this have happened to me?

So now I’m all alone Stuck at home And when I wake up in the morning I know I can never go out I might just die Again And again And again.

Author's Note: Abigail is a funny, emotional, and fierce girl who loves to read, draw, write, sing and play instruments. She has her eye on becoming a missionary or a counselor.

Found Poem

By R. W. Ward

At the back of the North Wind— Where the sidewalk ends— A broken heart still beats— Roll of thunder, hear my cry—

Author's Note: The poem I wrote is called a Found Poem. I took the titles of books and arranged them into a poem. The books I used were:Â At the Back of the North Wind by George MacDonald; A Broken Heart Still Beats by Anne McCracken and Mary Semel; Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein; Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor.

“There is no real ending. It’s just the place where you stop the story.” ― Frank Herbert

Submit poetry to boxedpoetry@icloud.com