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Valiant Scribe

A literary hub giving a voice to the voiceless by retelling the human experience

Zep Tepi, a Poem by Amanda Ellis

Jun 21, 2020
1 min

Zep Tepi, a Poem by Amanda Ellis

For the collection: 'Life in the time of #COVID' It’s unprecedented She types furiously on her cell The only friend that doesn’t have to stay six feet distant Quick flashes of movement at the window distract A robin, triumphant and boasting. It must be lunch time. Isn’t it lunchtime? Staple peanut butter sandwich down Leaving an increasingly empty larder Hoards of toilet paper, a flushable fountain of youth Fear and hand sanitizer the only currency Amanda Ellis is an emerging

A New Paradigm: Drive-Free Lunches, a Short Story by Rick Blum

Jun 17, 2020
3 min

A New Paradigm: Drive-Free Lunches, a Short Story by Rick Blum

For the collection: 'Life in the time of #COVID' For more than a dozen years our monthly routine has been the same. Steve would motor up from Norfolk, while Jim cruised down the Pike from Framingham. Nick trucked in from Melrose, meeting up along the way with David from Reading and Paul from North Reading. Others drove in from Dorchester, Westford, Needham, Whitman, and a half-dozen other towns across metro Boston. Regardless of starting point, though, we’d all end up in one

Fashion Week, Milan 2020, a Poem by Donna Pucciani

Jun 14, 2020
1 min

Fashion Week, Milan 2020, a Poem by Donna Pucciani

For the collection: 'Life in the time of #COVID' The invisible seed of dread dwells in the strap of a stiletto sandal clicking down the runway on a strand of tinsel-fringed skirt hugging the thighs of a fur-caped model. Her oversized pout camouflages her worry about the train trip home to the quarantined village that is the epicenter of the plague. After the show, which has just been moved to an online venue by a famed designer to prevent contagion, she rubs disinfectant on h

Viral Logic, a Short Story by Susan Hodara

Jun 10, 2020
2 min

Viral Logic, a Short Story by Susan Hodara

For the collection: 'Life in the time of #COVID' I’m not going to get the virus. And if I do get it, I’m going to recover. I’m not going to die. Are you kidding me? So why, then, when I wake up in the middle of the night with a stuffed nose, do I go into a small panic? I imagine trembling with chills, drowning my sheets with sweat, whatever the terrifying feeling is of not being able to breathe. What will I do? Where will I go? Will there be equipment to help me? Or will I ac

Essential Worker, a Poem by Linda M. Crate

Jun 7, 2020
1 min

Essential Worker, a Poem by Linda M. Crate

For the collection: 'Life in the time of #COVID' I am green with envy for the girl months ago with narry a worry or a care, but now this virus is everywhere; there's even a case here in my county as of today and i am scared to leave my house— I am considered an essential worker, but I don't want to head into my work place; just want to stay home where I feel safe and secure from harm don't want to go into the mouth of a place where people don't take the pandemic seriously, ju

Mutability in a State of Emergency, a Short Story by Bob Beagrie

Jun 3, 2020
2 min

Mutability in a State of Emergency, a Short Story by Bob Beagrie

For the collection: 'Life in the time of #COVID' The Pre-Assessment waiting room is quiet today, hardly surprising given the situation, essential procedures only. The radio is playing ‘People Call Me a Space Cowboy’ and the receptionist is unusually short, so much so that only her upper forehead and hairline crest the desk, but its bobbing along to the tune and she seems happy enough despite the State of Emergency. Still, we all need to compartmentalise our fears and concerns

Welcome to My Reality (A Cancer Survivor on COVID-19), a Poem by Bradley W. Buchanan

May 31, 2020
1 min

Welcome to My Reality (A Cancer Survivor on COVID-19), a Poem by Bradley W. Buchanan

For the collection: 'Life in the time of #COVID' you didn’t ask me the way to this place or enter it willingly at first but here we are afraid of what we cannot see or feel until it is too late you’re right that it sucks and I was brought here kicking and screaming neutropenic and immune-suppressed what I wonder is your excuse for not washing your hands before now? is it such an imposition to ward off a sickness that will hurt us both? of course you will outlive me anyway kno

How Many Miles, a Poem by Jane Burn

May 27, 2020
2 min

How Many Miles, a Poem by Jane Burn

For the collection: 'Life in the time of #COVID' I am so very, very far away from you. I Google how many miles there are between us, if you were in Rome (1422.1) or Delhi (4196), Paris (586.3) or Madrid (1370.5). Distance has a whole new meaning. I used to dream of Arizona. That song, Little Fluffy Clouds – everyone tripping in dim-lit clubs to The Orb at 2 am while I was high just throbbing with ambiance and riding upon that woman’s voice, when she talked about the sky.

Pandemic, a Poem by Bryant Smith

May 24, 2020
1 min

Pandemic, a Poem by Bryant Smith

For the collection: 'Life in the time of #COVID' the man in a shirt the color of the sky it has several pockets embroidered detail like lace guayabera, the Cubans call it the pockets are empty his back pocket bulges a wallet fat with business cards and notes not with currency he stares forlornly at the shelves his favorites usually are there in abundance today only scuffed beige metal his daughter on the coast called take care of yourself, she’d said if it was a hurricane, he

8 Fun Activities to Do While Quarantined due to COVID-19, a Poem by Marc Cid

May 20, 2020
2 min

8 Fun Activities to Do While Quarantined due to COVID-19, a Poem by Marc Cid

For the collection: 'Life in the time of #COVID' Sing along to that wonderful cover of “Imagine” by John Lennon, performed by an ensemble of all your favorite celebrities. Read a short story, like The Masque of The Red Death by Edgar Allen Poe. Watch a movie, like Parasite by Bong Joon-ho, or Jaws by Steven Spielberg. Play board games, like Risk, or Monopoly. Play video games, like Animal Crossing: New Horizons,

Resist the Urge, a Poem by Sueann Wells

May 17, 2020
2 min

Resist the Urge, a Poem by Sueann Wells

As cities around the world gradually ease shelter-in-place restrictions, we must remember to resist the urge to act irresponsibly.

Day 13, a Poem by Joe Russo

May 13, 2020
1 min

Day 13, a Poem by Joe Russo

For the collection: 'Life in the time of #COVID' Day 13 and I started talking to the wall For companionship Somebody (thing) To pass the time. The books in the bookcase all Yell “Read me…READ ME” But how can I read all of you? The dust packages together The covers they fade. Will someone talk to me? Outside the world slows to a stop. The bikers, the walkers, all with Smiles on their faces. For what? The world is ending go back inside. “It’s a PANDEMIC” PAN-DEM-IC. She says it

Blowing Out. a Short Story by Bob Beagrie

May 10, 2020
3 min

Blowing Out. a Short Story by Bob Beagrie

For the collection: 'Life in the time of #COVID' My Dad is building a wall. Twirling bricks in the air, bedding them down in a quarter-bond, flicking the trowel to lay a mat of fresh darbo. With one brick after the next in a cheeky wink of an eye the edifice rises and so does the scaffold but no one can tell what he’s building. He has abandoned the architect’s plans. A loose crowd has gathered, observing Social Distancing, as speculations spread: he's building a new Tower of

Outdistanced, a Poem by Bradley W. Buchanan

May 6, 2020
1 min

Outdistanced, a Poem by Bradley W. Buchanan

For the collection: 'Life in the time of #COVID' Who will distance themselves the most from all this grotesque interpersonal mess? I can’t run very fast or far but I can retreat into a remoteness that few can match and fewer still can penetrate. Give me six feet and I will dive a thousand leagues beneath the skin-deep human abrasions to find the silent monster at peace in infinite objectivity. You will die and I will die in obverse order with neighborly nods and wry defiance

March Madness 2020, a Poem by Cathy Warner

May 3, 2020
2 min

March Madness 2020, a Poem by Cathy Warner

For the collection: 'Life in the time of #COVID' This year there was no lion. You came calling with striped camellias bushed twelve feet tall in my yard and a trip to Costco where I flitted carefree in the crowded optical department from frame to frame fingers all over my face to find a fit. None of us able to see ahead clearly. You lambed in on a bland gray blanket clouds cuddling the creative writing class I led by a gas fire in a swanky apartment complex’s common

The Wisdom of Liliuokalani, a Short Story by Luisa Kay Reyes

Apr 29, 2020
4 min

The Wisdom of Liliuokalani, a Short Story by Luisa Kay Reyes

For the collection: 'Life in the time of #COVID' When we moved to the small village of Hartville, in Northeast Ohio to live with my grandfather, we were presented with a dilemma. My grandfather had a baby grand piano in his house, so I had access to a piano to practice on. But all of the piano teachers in the area were so filled up with students, that they didn’t have room for a single one more. Thankfully, after a while, my grandfather came to the rescue. He was a retire

Coronavirus, a Poem by Mick Yates

Apr 26, 2020
1 min

Coronavirus, a Poem by Mick Yates

For the collection: 'Life in the time of #COVID' when this has all passed when this is old news and long forgotten when we reflect upon it all let us not remember the isolation the need to separate ourselves from others the fear of being with friends or in the company of strangers the dread of selfish avarice the terror of being without food the futility of such a life when this is all over let us embrace all what it is to be human let us understand that as individuals we are

Alejandra, a Poem by Aliza Epstein

Apr 22, 2020
2 min

Alejandra, a Poem by Aliza Epstein

For the collection: Life in the time of #COVID' Pink, green, and blue acrylic paint colors stain her palms and the tips of her fingernails. Smooth skin covers the back of her hands, soft for the first time in her life. Her hands had been hardened by two years of sewing in San Pedro Sula sweatshops and four years of cleaning in a fancy Santa Monica hotel. “Don’t come to work tomorrow,” they told her. “We are closing the hotel for two months to flatten the curve.” The world ret

A Few Thoughts on Isolation, a Poem by Melissa St. Pierre

Apr 19, 2020
2 min

A Few Thoughts on Isolation, a Poem by Melissa St. Pierre

For the collection: 'Life in the time of #COVID' My university is closed. I’m working from home. I’m behind in almost every way possible. And I… Am scared. There is a place I always go when I need to think about something, and if I don’t go there to think my decisions through, I regret them later. I am thinking “all the thoughts.” That place is on the fourth floor of my university library. My university is closed. And I… Am scared. My parent

Virus Angst, a Poem by E.H. Davis

Apr 15, 2020
4 min

Virus Angst, a Poem by E.H. Davis

An Intriguing and upbeat story – maybe even funny – the antidote

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