A LITTLE BOOK OF LIVING THROUGH THE DAY Poems During a Pandemic
DAVID BREEDEN
David Breeden's moving and accessible collection of poetry, A Little Book of Living Through the Day: Poems During a Pandemic, was written to get himself through the isolation of the pandemic—and to reach others, like those in his congregation, struggling with the same burden of the day-after-day."I wrote the poems collected here in order to make it through the day, the night, and the day-after-day of the pandemic. Days of worry. Days of confusion. Days of social unrest. Days of figuring out how to get through the days. The pandemic hit congregations hard—we could not do one of the most important things congregations do: gather together. I knew that each person was, like me, living with the day-after-day. What could be said to help us make it?"
Thoughts that go along with living in new and uncertain times. These poems speak loudly and work vividly on page as we (still) deal with an ongoing pandemic. May these poems breathe life into your day in ways that are empowering or impactful. —Christopher D. Sims, poet, activist, and spoken word performer
I don't usually seek poetry as a muse to ponder the world and my experiences in it. But I found A Little Book of Living Through the Day touched me deeply and had me thinking much about who and what has shaped me. David's poems are reflective and passionate. I felt through his words my own daily struggle in the face of a pandemic—what does it all mean? —Kristin Wintermute, Director of Education, American Humanist Association
Most of all these poems are lyrical paeans to humanity and the experience of being human, quite notably from such lines as these, "This is the sublime,/ waiting to be held/ for the moment,/ this moment/ when the leaves fall/ until they are/ shining images/ folded into a book." A Little Books of Living Through the Day is just that book, containing as much wonder and gratitude as anyone trying to figure out just how to live a compassionate life in today's America "as the jack-/ boots of partiality/ keep stamping by." —Wally Swist, poet and essayist, author of Taking Residence and A Writer's Statements on Beauty: New & Selected Essays & Reviews
