Edmonton Poet Laureate Nisha Patel Acknowledges Covid-19 Deaths in '432 - 615 - ?'

At CTV News, Alex Antoneshyn tells readers about the city of Edmonton's poet laureate Nisha Patel, who is adding a word to her "living poem" "432 - 615 - ?" for every Covid-19 death in her home province. "She says the piece was born on Nov. 15 out of a feeling of powerlessness and a sense of collective grief," Antoneshyn writes. Further: 

That day, Lewis Hamilton became the first Black man to win a seventh Formula 1. A day earlier, Alberta had reported for the first time more than 1,000 COVID-19 cases in 24 hours. As of Nov. 18, COVID-19 had claimed the lives of 432 Albertans. 

“There’s only so many relatives I could talk to and encourage to stay home and stay safe and stuff like that… There was only so much I could do,” Patel told CTV News Edmonton.

But as a writer she could – and as the city’s poet laureate, she is tasked to – chronicle Edmonton’s history.

Her poetry comes from the perspective of a young, queer, disabled woman of colour watching COVID-19 spread across the planet and her municipal and provincial governments scramble to react.

“My mother cancels Diwali while my relatives return to work for the 270th day in a row, packing food and Christmas flyers, and staffing emergency rooms in infested hospitals,” the poem reads. “The premier takes to radio shows to blame everyone but himself, asking for me and my people to wake up, and neither my city councilor nor my Mayor defend us.”

Continue reading at CTV News.