Before The After

Before the After is a collection of poems by Mary Anne Anderson about the COVID-19 pandemic, seen through the eyes of a poet, a woman and a gentle soul. The poems deal with adjusting to a changed world, with anger at a virus that has touched everyone, and with grief over what the crisis suggests about humanity's mistreatment of the earth.

The poet also looks at the world beyond the virus. The poems take in the rise of Black Lives Matter and the injustice, police brutality and systemic racism that the pandemic brought into sharper view. Other pieces are short poetic vignettes about events cancelled because of the virus, and an imaginative letter to humanity from a disappointed Gaia.

Throughout, the book moves between humor, disappointment and hard-won wisdom. It considers what has been lost, how people adapt and change, and how bias, hate and intolerance keep us from understanding one another.