So…How do you do April in the throngs of “19?”

Why do local health care workers still feel that there is not a sufficient supply of PPEs to handle the scourge of “19?” Sufficient staff at all levels of care? Sufficient testing kits and labs to assess results?

Why do noted national public health officials, front line doctors and nurses (and some major employers) state that it is risky, if not deadly, to reopen any economy by May 1 without a proactive testing regimen in place prior to opening of workplaces?

Is the world watching? Listening? Observing? Each other?

So, how do you April in the throngs of “19?”

Will you watch baseball being played in a fan-less stadium?

Eat at a restaurant where your temperature is tested before entering and your servers wear masks and gloves? Any will you demand access to the kitchen to ensure that your dinner is being prepared with your safety in mind?

Will you maintain physical distancing until there is a proven, safety and effective vaccine even if that solution is more than a year away?

How do you April?

aaduna aprils April by continuing to provide relevant information and pertinent poetry that may soothe your senses and slow your breathing to a more pleasant pace; lessen your fear and anxieties even if it is for a brief moment in time. And will plan to enhance that experience with jazz in a literary essay kinda way. But in this moment…

Flo Au is a former aaduna contributor and is always on point when she offers intriguing viewpoints and perspectives that can be shared to maintain sanity. She resides in the vibrant City of Hong Kong and more importantly, she loves to write. Her fiction and poem pieces are published in a number of literary journals. Her recent piece has also been nominated for Best Small Fictions 2019 and Pushcart Prize 2019.

God Please Answer

Stay home. Stay healthy. For you and for the world. My teacher asked me to write to you. Dear God, I don’t. No, no, no… Springtime. Safe. Birds are chirping on stringy branches, echoed by insects of colors swirling around the rainbow buds and blossoms in freshness. Safe. I love butterflies the most: White Commodore, Orange Oakleaf, Chocolate Mime…They are all out in the garden nearby. Safe. Joey called and said. She lives around there. No, no, no…I don’t. I don’t understand. They are rare, not commonly out. I want to be out. Haven’t seen Joey and teachers for days. Miss them. No…the word which mum has said most to me these days. I wonder. It’s sunny outside. Safe. Azure blue sky. Wisps of cotton cloud. Safe. Deep and light blends of voluminous red, orange, yellow, green, blue and violet. Safe. I want to play, smell and taste with them. Birds. Butterflies. Bees. No, no, no…no one is out. I don’t. I stay at work for you. You stay at home for me. Masks on. Can they breathe? Gowns on. Can they feel? Safe. Safe. Safe. Dear God, I don’t. While mum is not cooking, she never turns her sight off the TV. Nothing interesting on TV. News is news. All the same. How new is it? I don’t understand. Boxes and numbers. This is not the outside world, is this? Rows of boxes  in churches. Your home. Why? My kid Bible doesn’t say you like boxes. Does the adult one say? My mum doesn’t like boxes either. Her eyes are even moistened. When she watches. No, no, no… The TV blinks with numbers now. Numbers on a world map. The number increases every day. Mum frowns her forehead. I have questions. Mum, will Granny come tomorrow? No, no, no…She hasn’t come since Chinese New Year. Miss Carrot misses her. I miss her. Nor does my mum put her phone away. Safe. Safe. Last time…when? I talked to Granny on my mum’s phone. Granny breathed a bit hard and coughed a little. Mum looked pale and shaky. I showed my birthday gift, Miss Carrot, to Gran. She smiled. Stay home…stay… Go and play house with Miss Carrot, mum says. Dear God, I don’t. I want to be out. I want to bring Miss Carrot out. She wants to be out too. When will Gran come? Joey wants to be out. Will she come next week? Play house with me? Will she? When…Play and spin in the whirling of colors. Safe. Safe. Safe. Stay home, stay healthy for you and for the world. Dear God, I don’t understand. Please answer.

* * *

Readers may know National Poetry Month is recognized every April. The recognition was created in 1996 by the Academy of American Poets to broaden awareness and appreciation of this literary genre. While the current pandemic has closed schools, teachers cannot bring poetry into the classroom; reading poems, at best, is a social media event in the privacy of the poet’s residential space devoid of a live audience though Zoom or live streaming tries to ameliorate that “distancing.” And then there are those adventurous initiatives that present poetry online daily or sporadically throughout April.

The original Jazz Awareness Month was birthed by the Louisiana Jazz Federation in New Orleans in 1980. Late to the game but still relevant, John Hasse, who in 2001 was curator of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, inaugurated Jazz Appreciation Month (JAM) as an ongoing recognition of jazz as an unique and original American art form to be recognized in April and starting in 2001 as the modern day evolution of the 1980 Jazz Awareness Month.

So, how do you April?

As an adventurous entity, aaduna has been presenting daily poetry and the creatives behind the work while providing commentary on the state of the world and especially the “19” plight in the United States.

We presented visual images of New Orleans and its imprint on American culture and global sensibilities to remind us what was and what can be experienced after the storm.

And in a few days, as we will continue heralding poetry with the added celebration of Jazz through the eyes of a jazz fan and aaduna contributing editor, Austin Morgan. He will share his essays detailing his top ten jazz recordings. Stay tuned.

So how do you get into the jazz game?

Send us your name, country of residence, and the name of your all-time favorite jazz recording and we will share your input with our readership.

Stay Safe. Stay Protected. Stay Blessed.

aaduna - an online adventure with words and images - a globally read, multi-cultural, and diverse online literary and visual arts journal established in 2010.  Visit us at www.aaduna.org where we put measurable actions to our words.

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