Viral Spiral: A Collection of Chilling Poems and Photos About Covid-19 and Black Lives Matter (Full Color)

by Sarah P. Ross

Overview

The pandemic of our lifetime, the era of Covid-19, was a time of mystery, death, and fear as never before seen. It revealed the nurse's face imprinted red as she cried behind her mask and the EMT loading soon-to-be-dead onto the ambulance. Amidst the Food Bank's love and sustenance was news of Captain Crozier's termination, fired for trying to save his men from Covid's annihilation. Even Governor Cuomo acted as the surrogate president as New Yorkers clapped from their windows to thank first responders for their magic, and people stayed home, always to celebrate alone.

It was just the time when nothing made sense and everything reeked of false pretense. It was a time when working for gratuity changed to delivery, when jobs were all gone and bills pilled overwhelmingly high! Stocks plummeted radically. Another Depression was nigh. Drugs became the crutch for each hour, and abuse of all sorts ruled rampid with power. There is no escape when one's quarantined; children learned a way of life not meant to be. Nursing homes hid the dead bodies of their residents, while all people of color died disproportionately. The meat-packers were forced to work against their own will; Native Americans once again, by a virus, were killed. The homeless had to endure even more suffering, but for the first time, from Coronavirus, our air became clean.

George Floyd started his own pandemic for the BLACK LIVES MATTER task as the president gassed peaceful protestors to clear a path, never wearing a mask, his followers to never dare ask. The virus continued to baffle and control as Americans writhed from its pain. The world had changed. All had changed. Yet graduates, though masked, pretended all was the same. Wearing masks, they flung hats up with glee, while uncaring asymptomatics spread the virus epidemically. Monuments of hate and slavery came toppling down, and the sound of protest continued to erupt. A child's birthday was celebrated by her black daddy being gunned down, where he only awkwardly slept.

The bounty of our soldiers rages with this virus today. It is no surprise that innocent children are being caged. "Live and let die" dictated the day that we all blindly march in Corona's parade.

Viral Spiral is a book that details the various dramatic aspects of the coronavirus pandemic and the Black Lives Matter movement. Each poem is accompanied by real-life photos of Covid-19 and Black Lives Matter content. The marriage of these photos with each jaw-dropping poem will overwhelm the reader.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781664128156
Publisher:	Xlibris US
Publication date:	09/04/2020
Pages:	80
Product dimensions:	8.50(w) x 11.00(h) x 0.21(d)

About the Author

Sarah P. Ross says that pain is her inspiration. An extremely passionate writer, she overflows with energy and drama in rhyming poetic form. Experienced as a major radio announcer, station manager, and broadcasting instructor for over fourteen years, she excelled in compelling communication. Since early childhood, Sarah has written rhyming poetry, but not until now has her writing magic been available to the public. She sincerely hopes that all readers will be forever changed by her emotionally gripping and chilling words.

Editorial Reviews

2021-02-04
These collected poems and photographs provide an array of perspectives on the events of 2020.

In her debut book, Ross addresses the Covid-19 pandemic and the Black Lives Matter movement through narrative poems from a variety of different viewpoints. Most verses, many in the first person, concern the pandemic; the speakers include a nurse, a waiter, a homeless person, and the virus itself. Third-person poems address such figures as Capt. Brett Crozier, who warned the Pentagon about an outbreak aboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt and was fired for his trouble (“Crozier Our Hero”). Others commemorate events like the 7 p.m. clapping that arose from windows and balconies in New York City during the initial lockdown as a thank you to health care workers (“NY Clapped”). Verses relating to Black Lives Matter address the murders of Black men by police, the protests that were sparked, and issues such as Confederate monuments. Ross exhibits much sympathy for her subjects in ways that can be potent, as in “The Abused”: “Quarantined with my abuser / Due to Covid-19 / They now feel like a loser / No job, no food, no money. / Come here, bitch.” The lines swiftly convey the speaker’s trapped situation, with no escape from brutality and no safe place outside or inside. Other lines, though, are clunky: “Domestic violence strengthened / Without any ease.” Overall, the collection’s rhyme schemes are erratic and the rhythms uneven, as in contrasting “I’m only a kid” with “Of this virus Covid,” which demands an unnatural emphasis on the final syllable. Many, too, don’t go very deep, as in “People of Color,” which asserts: “Obviously, something’s all wrong”—obvious indeed, but little more. The volume’s uncaptioned stock photos can be effective but at times are overly generic, such as the shot of an aircraft carrier accompanying “Crozier Our Hero.”

An uneven yet sometimes powerful collection of timely narrative poems.

Kirkus Reviews