Stuck in Lockdown: The First Three Months
“Jane Marla Robbins has stories to tell. She’s been observing the blunt losses and little victories that come with a once-in-a-century pandemic. The resulting poems constitute a cri de coeur from a Topanga soul that we can all relate to. Mixed in with the words are several well-chosen photos that together bring something welcome and unexpected in tough times: comfort.”
– Jimmy Roberts, composer, I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change

“The poet chronicles her first three months of the pandemic with wit and heart. With ruminations on toilet paper, to eulogies for friends felled during the New York death spike, these poems and photographs will see you through the upcoming pandemic months, or through any of life’s trials.”
– Diana Mathur, author, Article 58, The Ghastly Year

“These profound poems give meaning and words to what we’re all feeling while living in an unreal time of chaos, uncertainty and change. Somehow, the poems capture the essence of our experience. They are life-
affirming, and bring the lucky reader to a place of peace.”
– Kellee White, Licensed Marriage Family Therapist

“When Jane Marla Robbins looks, she doesn’t see only herself, she sees the world and us there with her. This collection of poetry is her gift of healing and uplift during unsettling times. She offers comfort, humor, and companionship. In this time of separation, her poems of beauty and resilience defy the order of separation by bringing us to her and her to us.”
– Lisa Segal, author/artist, Kicking Towards the Deep End, METAMORPHOSIS, Jack Grapes’ Method Writing: The Brush-Up

“Jane Marla Robbins deftly documents what it’s like to live under the life and death threat of the Coronavirus. The volume contains poems of grief for friends and aha! poems of revelation. There is anger and desperation at the lack of national leadership. Lastly, but not least, there is Robbins’ special brand of humor. POEMS OF COVID-19 smartly
covers what it’s like to live in a pandemic sweeping the world.”
– Jean Colonomos, playwright/author, Treasure Hunt, Dramalogue Award, Art Farm, host, Poetry at Cafe 27

“When things are going well, we tend to forget about the healing nature of poetry. But when things get extreme or even unbearable, we turn to poetry for comfort. POEMS OF COVID-19 offers just that. Having experienced the gamut of emotions caused by the lockdown, and worse having lost friends to the virus, Robbins searches for comfort and beauty where she can – and makes the proverbial lemonade out of the lemons.”
– Joan Gelfand, author, Extreme, You Can Be a Winning Writer: the 4 C’s of Author Success

“Jane Marla Robbins’ new collection, POEMS OF COVID-19, is an absolute delight. Bittersweet, funny and heartbreaking at once, a testament to our time, it brilliantly captures slices of life and surprises the reader at very turn. At times euphoric, at times sad, it is a haunting and tender tribute to her friends as she celebrates and mourns them. The inventive poems read as a diary full of wonder, a hymn to life, and an uplifting meditation on loss, love, and intimate tenderness.”
– Hélène Cardona, author, Life in Suspension,
International Press Award, Best Book Award

COVID-19

i

The sun doesn’t know
there’s a coronavirus.
He shows up daily –
not burning, but smiling,
warming.

If you listen, he tells you
he’ll be here tomorrow
and next week
and a thousand years from now.

ii

The mustard flowers on the side of the road
don’t know about it.
It’s only early March and still, a few showers
and they’ve rushed out like an army.
They only wash their hands
of all the panic
and wait for rain.

iii

My neighbors’ bougainvillea flowers
only know the fuchsia, shining,
of their sun-lit faces, mirrors
of our own amazing, healing light.

By Jane Marla Robbins

THE CORONA VIRUS HAD KEPT HER HOME

Coakley. She’s six. My neighbors’ little girl.
Today she visited, found my colored pencils,
did a drawing of the two of us:

there’s a sun in the upper left corner
and a rainbow--three times taller
than me and Coakley –

who’s never heard of Noah’s flood,
of God giving him a rainbow as promise
that he would never again
destroy the earth.

She also drew a tree with green leaves,
green grass under it and us and the rainbow-
blue and red and yellow and pink.

This is her world.
And is ours.

By Jane Marla Robbins

You can see more of Jane’s poetry performances
on YouTube

And on Instagram