The poems of poetry month

We asked for your poems on the theme of normalcy. We received nearly 500 in all. The response was heartfelt and tremendous.

You gave us flowers, hope, pastrami hash, and three bubbles of air. You gave us laments over graying roots, masks, Ukraine, and lost loved ones. You gave us your rage, your subway commutes, your fuchka trucks and coco bread, and stoop music on summer days. 

You can read a collection of some of the poetry here.

And if you'd like to take a trip through time, revisit this conversation between the late WNYC Morning Edition host Richard Hake and our former producer Shumita Basu from Poetry Month of 2020—just a month after the city shutdown for the pandemic, and just a week before Richard's death. 

Things may never be normal, as you told us in so many ways this month. But that's how time works. 

We are grateful to everyone who sent in poems, and to those of you who listened.