These are poems that have often comforted me during hard times. They remind me that though the world is often scary and uncertain, it is also full of beauty, joy and connection. Reciting a poem while you wash your hands can turn a chore into a soothing, grounding ritual. If you’re looking for sillier hand-washing entertainment, comics creator Lucy Knisley wrote and illustrated an incredible hand washing song to the tune of Frere Jacques. I highly recommend printing and sharing it.
“The Peace of Wild Things” by Wendell Berry
Excerpt: When despair for the world grows in me from The Peace of Wild Things: And Other Poems
“Good Bones” by Maggie Smith
Excerpt: Life is short, though I keep this from my children. Life is short, and I’ve shortened mine in a thousand delicious, ill-advised ways, a thousand deliciously ill-advised ways I’ll keep from my children. The world is at least fifty percent terrible, and that’s a conservative estimate, though I keep this from my children. from Good Bones: Poems
“Thank You” by Ross Gay
Excerpt: If you find yourself half naked and barefoot in the frosty grass, hearing, again, the earth’s great, sonorous moan that says you are the air of the now and gone, that says all you love will turn to dust, from Against Which
“Praying” by Mary Oliver
Excerpt: It doesn’t have to be the blue iris, it could be weeds in a vacant lot, or a few small stones: just pay attention, then patch from Thirst
“I Don’t Pay Attention” by Nayyirah Waheed
i don’t pay attention to the world ending. it has ended for me many times and began again in the morning. from salt.
“little prayer” by Danez Smith
Excerpt: let ruin end here let him find honey where there was once a slaughter from Don’t Call Us Dead
“Dust of Snow” by Robert Frost
Excerpt: The way a crow Shook down on me The dust of snow From a hemlock tree Looking for more beautiful poems to read right now? Try one of these hopeful poetry books. Or read one of these five poems for these days of uncertainty. And if you’re trying to figure out what to do if you’re stuck at home for a while, we’ve got some bookish ideas for how to keep busy during a quarantine.
