And the people stayed home.
And read books, and listened, and rested,
and exercised, and made art, and played games,
and learned new ways of being, and were still.
And listened more deeply.
Some meditated, some prayed, some danced.
Some met their shadows.
And the people began to think differently.
And the people healed.
And, in the absence of people living in ignorant,
dangerous, mindless, and heartless ways,
the earth began to heal.
And when the danger passed,
and the people joined together again,
they grieved their losses,
and made new choices,
and dreamed new images,
and created new ways to live
and heal the earth fully,
as they had been healed.
Listen to this poem about hope in the Coronavirus global health crisis written by Kitty O'Meara
Kitty O'Meara is the poet laureate of the Coronavirus pandemic. Her untitled prose poem, which begins with the line, "And the people stayed home," has been shared countless times, on countless backgrounds, with countless fonts, since its first posting. It was most widely popularized by Deepak Chopra, and has since been shared by everyone.
Through O'Meara's lens, the era of social distancing could be taken up by purposeful activity like meditation, exercise, and dancing, and result in a kind of global healing.
It's obvious why this meditative poem has resonated so deeply with people: It inserts the idea of individual agency back into something out of our control, and imagines that the time after this will not only exist—it'll be better than before.
Since going her poem went viral, O'Meara has been flooded with letters from new fans from around the globe sharing how her words provided them with solace. "It’s just amazing," O'Meara says. "I saw going viral as a gift to me. I was able to offer spiritual care."
Find out more about how this poem went viral.
Poetry reaffirms our common humanity by revealing to us that individuals, everywhere in the world, share the same questions and feelings.
Poetry is the mainstay of oral tradition and, over centuries, can communicate the innermost values of diverse cultures.
World Poetry Day is an occasion to honour poets, revive oral traditions of poetry recitals, promote the reading, writing and teaching of poetry, foster the convergence between poetry and other arts such as theatre, dance, music and painting, and raise the visibility of poetry in the media. As poetry continues to bring people together across continents, all are invited to join in.
There are many awareness days throughout the year. The decision to proclaim 21st March as World Poetry Day was adopted during UNESCO’s 30th session held in Paris in 1999.
One of the main objectives of the Day is to support linguistic diversity through poetic expression and to offer endangered languages the opportunity to be heard within their communities.
How does poetry work?
What makes a poem a poem?
Humans are creatures of rhythm and repetition. From our breath to our gait: rhythm is central to our experience, and often brings us pleasure. We can find pleasure in the rhythm of a song, or even the rows of an orchard. Of course, too much repetition can also backfire.
David Silverstein describes what poetic repetition is and why it works.
Visit the full lesson on TED Ed, think, dig deeper and discuss.
Poets use strong images to express powerful emotions. Watch how three animators interpreted A Noiseless Patient Spider, a poem by Walt Whitman.
Which one do you prefer?
Listen to the BBC World Service The Why Factor
Why do we read, or write poetry, as opposed to prose?
What can poetry do that prose can’t?
And why do we respond to poetry in a way that we don’t respond to prose?
LISTEN TO THE RADIO > Click on the photo below to find out more about why we love poetry.
Now, write your own poems.
Experiment with Found Poems
All you need is scissors and glue
Listen to David Bowie explaining how he wrote his songs from cut-ups. He just cut things up: newspaper articles, notes, poems, pieces of other people's books, randomly putting them together and in the process creating surprising images and new ideas.
You don't need to use a special computer programme, just scissors and glue.
Change tenses and pronouns to give your poem more cohesion and a stronger story line.
Watch Bright Star by Jane Campion based on the true story of John Keats and his muse Fanny Brawne
Here's the script to an early scene in Bright Star where John Keats gives Fanny Brawne a lesson on poetry.
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