These days Tom is leaving for work shortly after 6 a.m. He may continue to work, even if the governor puts us under a shelter-in-place order, because apparently construction workers are considered "essential." This is good and bad for us. I am trying hard not to think about the bad.

Meanwhile, Paul and I continue to hole up here at the Alcott House. Cafe Quarantine will be serving clam chowder and yeast rolls, along with a salad of roasted Brussels sprouts and diced purple sweet potatoes. Laundry is exquisitely folded. Beds are made and floors are mopped. It's like I've spent my whole underpaid life practicing for this.

Still, things are looking more positive for me, job-wise. The managing editor at UMass Press (my primary copyediting employer) tells me that publication schedules have not changed. The editor of an academic journal tells me that she, too, will be sending me ongoing work. So my manuscript stack still teeters, at least for the time being.

I also had a long phone call with the executive director at the Frost Place. In her view, my conference has an excellent chance of running this summer, even if the quarantine continues. Our format makes distance sharing possible, as long as we spend some time beforehand getting acquainted with Zoom conference platforms and such. We also cogitated about ways in which the Frost Place can contribute to maintaining community among artists and teachers. Our thought is to construct a kind of online center for sharing: not just poets but creators from multiple genres; not just established artists but an olio of students, apprentices, emerging, and career practitioners, unknown and well known. As our idea takes shape, I may be reaching out  and asking if you'd be willing to contribute a brief essay, a photograph, a quarantine diary, a song recommendation, a video of your cat . . .

In the meantime: Reading. Editing. Talking to my beloveds. Riding Vita in a chill spring wind. Planting spinach and arugula seeds.

I think of you all, so physically distant. I hope you are well. And I hope you are not dropping into silence. Keep updating your blogs. Keep telephoning your friends. Keep commenting on posts. Keep sending texts to your neighbors and emails to your mom. Keep sharing photos of your meals and your pets. Silly or serious, we need each other.