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What role is poetry playing during COVID-19?

Our project proposes the writing, exchange, publication and discussion of poetry as a significant cultural response, benefiting the wellbeing of people from around the world during the COVID-19 pandemic. We invite you to join the conversation, to submit your own poems or to nominate others which speak to the idea of contemporary and/or historical pandemics.

Every day, we’ll be featuring a new poem from our inbox, and each month we’ll feature new writing from one of the world’s leading poets as they think through their predicaments, find in language a way to connect to others, and offer and seek solace and consolation.

Latest Poems

What I Know

By Anne Taylor

That it’s hard not to take it personally when people avoid you like the plague. That a word, or a smile, or saying hello with your eyes can make all the difference.

Two Poems

By Jessica Jost-Costanzo

They are just little white marks on the scan, and they are floating shapes that make me think of clouds— clouds that look like funny things, cute things.

Two Poems

By Tina Cole

I am a dot on the face of this page a white wilderness diary boxed in by dates with no purpose it is new year in May it is new year in June the page edges boundary a redundancy

About Us

Poetry is always valued in times of crisis. It provides succour, a means to think through our predicaments, a way to connect. During the current Covid-19 pandemic…

More About Us

University of Plymouth

Advancing knowledge and transforming lives through education and research.

Universities are so much more than degree-awarding seats of learning. They are drivers for economic innovation and advancement, catalysts for social change and champions of cultural development.

Nottingham Trent University

The big challenges that our world faces are complex. We are working to solve them by sharing our ideas, expertise and technology across the University and with our partners.

From tackling cancer, to making our cities greener, to creating smart textiles that improve and save lives; we’re making major breakthroughs across our five key themes. And, through our thriving research culture, we’re also creating the innovators of the future who will continue to have an impact on world problems.

Arts and Humanities Research Council

Arts and Humanities Research Council

At the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) we fund world-class, independent researchers in a wide range of subjects from history and archaeology to philosophy and languages. We also fund more contemporary research including the design and effectiveness of digital content and the impact of artificial intelligence.

Poetry and Covid-19 ARCHIVE (This website archives the over 1000 poems submitted by over 600 poets, and viewed by over 100,000 from over 125 countries during the Covid-19 pandemic, June 2020-June 2021). Thank you to all who took part in the Poetry and Covid project.