Social Distancing

Published in the midst of the Covid-19 global pandemic of 2020, Juan Felipe Herrera’s “Social Distancing” is a visually abstract piece arranged in the shape of a sun. Former U.S. Poet Laureate, Herrera is a prolific author of both poetry and children’s literature. “Social Distancing” can be read both as a direct response to the Covid-19 pandemic as well as an extension of Herrera’s larger body of work—much of which addresses social, spiritual, and emotional themes.

Arranged by the visually creative poet Anthony Cody, “Social Distancing” is a concrete poem with complex underpinnings. While many concrete poems utilize their shape to relate to their content more explicitly, “Social Distancing” looks like a sun but describes many unrelated images and ideas. Through the non-traditional arrangement of the lines, Herrera intends for readers to be able to experience the poem in a variety of ways. The Academy of American Poets includes a quotation alongside the poem in which Herrera explains, “you choose where to begin and end” when reading “Social Distancing.”

As a poem, “Social Distancing” reflects the social context in which it was written; at the time of publication in 2020, a global pandemic had shut down cities and countries across the entire globe, keeping people physically separate.