Depending on location, demographics, and housing types, each of Portland’s 90-plus neighborhoods marches to its own unique drummer, and what better way to capture the rhythm and tempo of a place than through the poetry of the people who live there?! Thus was the concept underlying an article entitled “Poetry in Motion” in the May-June 2020 issue of this newsletter that featured an inspirationally humorous poem by BWNA board member (now president) Tim Gillespie on the subject of strolling around Beaumont-Wilshire at the height of the coronavirus pandemic. Now a little over a year later, it was suggested that Tim’s poem be revisited as a motivator for other B-W residents to do the same—i.e., to compose an original poem for publication that in some way connects with life in the neighborhood. To that end, enjoy this reprise of “Coronavirus Two-Step.”
There are many aspects to a neighborhood’s ambience. Your poem could be an upbeat little ditty like Tim’s, but it could also be serious and poignant in tone. Let the imaginations flow. Submit poems to Al Ellis (editor@bwnapdx.org). Thanks.
Coronavirus Two-Step
We walk, skirt contact, do the dance of distance:
You take the first move, a high-step to the sidewalk, I’ll be-bop to the street.
You cha-cha to the street, I’ll hold my sidewalk strut.
You sidestep, I’ll waltz on, civility our do-si-do.
Our music’s earnest, but a bit off-beat: a city street foxtrot, a covid-19 moonwalk, a bug-avoiding jitterbug, happy feet at six feet.
This dance will be a short one, so we hope.
For now we’ll juke and veer, keen to perform the intricate steps we call community.