Rich Fireman- local poet

    I've been doing 2 writing groups since the pandemic started: a Zoom (weekly) for poetry only, with about 6 or so attending each session on average and a biweekly (on some other server, since the moderator has a business account he can use; I think it's Web-X, similar to Zoom) for any type of writing, usually every other week, which generally has about 4 people on average. They're generally 1-2 hours apiece.

     If anyone's interested, at the beginning of the pandemic, around early March, it generated for me a series of ten haiku [5-7-5 syllables] which, for me, exemplified the otherworldly/helpless feeling I (and many others, I'm told) was experiencing. You have my permission (in fact, encouragement) to share them with whomever you'd like. I would welcome feedback, as well.. I've written a number of other poems as well during this time period - which I'd also be happy to share, if you or anyone else is interested - but for now I'll just send you the haiku, since they seem more significant/pertinent to our circumstances. My email address is https://rcfchess@optonline.net

     I wish you and your family well, and let us all pray for the return of at least some sanity in November...

Haiku for the Modern World

Life was much simpler

when we didn’t have to plan

how we would not die

Relativity

It was a good day.

We did lots of laundry and

neither of us died.

New Rules

There is no such thing

as your being too careful.

You have to survive.

Deceptive

The world looks the same

but then when I look closer:

fear in people’s eyes

Question

I love you so much

but with this disease will you

be here tomorrow?

Unwelcome answer

Always wondering

how I was going to die

now I think I know

Social Distancing

Topsy-turvy world:

whether you live may hinge on

someone being near

Dead Dawn

When I woke up I

did not know that it would be

the apocalypse

Wonder

What would Spring look like

If there weren’t all these masks

hiding the beauty?

What Have You been doing?

The current health crisis has upended how and where we see and hear artists. I have books to promote and libraries have determined that there will be no events for the rest of the year. I would love to go to a book signing, but that hasn’t happened. 

As an artist, how have you coped with current events? Do you have more time to create? Has this stifled your creativity? 

The Freehold Borough Arts Council has this website for artists. Events in the area are promoted. I invite you to contact me at FreeholdArtsEssay@gmail.com to tell me what artistic endeavor you are working on. Send me a 300 word post for the website. If you want to send a blog post but don’t know what to say, reach out to FreeholdArtsEssay@gmail.com and I could send you some prompts. We can discover how to handle this world together.

I have posted an article about my feelings on the current events at www.freeholdborougharts.org. 

I hope to hear from you.

JJ Lair

Making Art Alone

To be an artist, you need to exist in a world of silence. —Louise Bourgeois

It is the irony. Art unites us. Making art is a solitary experience.

I’m sitting in an office editing multiple stories that may become novels. There are outlines of ideas and sketches in open notebooks. A mug of coffee, a dictionary, and scattered pens cover the desk. Mood music fills the room. 

I’m alone.

I used to meet with writing groups throughout the region. We would read our works, talk publishing news or brainstorm ideas. The genre didn’t matter, YA writers sat next to poets who sat next to mystery writers who were next to romance writers. 

I miss Lew, Danielle, Jon, and Lisa. How did their stories end?  Who was the killer? Did that guy and girl get together? I haven’t met with the groups to find out. I still see some writers on the Internet, but it’s not the same. it has pluses like we are in our comfortable homes. We aren’t sitting for hours with coffee in a public place as other people try to hear our stories. We aren’t passing each other books or notes.

I haven’t been to a book signing in months. New books still come out. The big book event is more muted.  

There are new music albums coming out, but the artists can’t tour. 

I want to share my stories and hear what you think. In a world of thousands of websites, I don’t know how to get your attention. 

As someone who loves the art world and wants to see what is out there, where can I go?  

What have you created? 

What can you share? 

Four hundred million people watched The Beatles perform “All You Need is Love” on June 25, 1967 through world-wide satellite television. Millions gathered and united to hear a song.

  I know there are people clamoring to unite with a song or a movie that we need to talk about.

How have you the artists gotten the word out about your art? 

Where have you the art-lover found that latest book, painting, play, song, puppet show that you want to talk about?

I would love to know.