In the Media

USA TODAY

“‘Dear vaccine’: A poem written by the world helps make sense of the COVID-19 pandemic”

WKSU 89.7

“The Poetry of the Vaccine”

Akron Beacon Journal

“Dear COVID-19 Vaccine: You’re invited to pen a stanza for Global Vaccine Poem”

Tucson.com

“Commemorate your COVID-19 vaccine in poetic fashion with University of Arizona project”

Earth Institute Sunday “Arts and Hearts” with Andy Revkin

“Dear Vaccine…”
Join the Kickoff of a Global Vaccine Poetry Project

Kent State University

“Art and Hope Intersect: Kent State and University of Arizona Launch Global Vaccine Poem Project”

University of Arizona

“Reflect on the COVID-19 Vaccine in a Poem, and Share it With the World”

KJZZ 91.5 Tucson

“National Poetry Month Part 1: The Tucson Episode”

WAKR 93.5

“Pandemic Poetry: Dear Vaccine”

WCPN 90.3

Dear Vaccine with WCPN ideastream's Rick Jackson

AZCENTRAL.COM

“‘Dear vaccine’: A poem written by the world helps make sense of the COVID-19 pandemic”

KGUN Tucson

“A poetic reflection on the COVID-19 vaccine”

San Antonio Report

“Poetry joins San Antonio to the world, via vaccines and agua”

CBC Canada-Radio

Dear Vaccine on “The Current” with Matt Galloway

The Daily Wildcat

“UA Poetry Center kicks off Global Vaccine Poem Project”

News 5 Cleveland

‘Dear Vaccine’ — You're invited to contribute to a global poem about the COVID-19 vaccine

Ohio Arts Council

Resilient Ohio: Global Vaccine Poem Receives Responses From Around the World

Spectrum News 1

Kent State, University of Arizona partner on global poem called ‘Dear Vaccine’

Sangha News Journal

“Dear Vaccine”— Creating Community with Poetry

Spectrum News 1

Vaccine poetry project with Kent State roots becomes published book

CBC Canada—Radio

Naomi Shihab Nye and David Hassler on “The Current”

PBS Newshour

Citizen poets share details of their pandemic lives in ‘Dear Vaccine’

Featured Media

On the Air: Dear Vaccine

About

British composer Cecilia McDowall’s choral work, On the Air (Dear Vaccine) was commissioned by the Cleveland Chamber Choir and premiered on February 26, 2022, at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. For the text, McDowall worked with British poet, writer, and broadcaster Seàn Street. Together, they chose several poetic excerpts from the Global Vaccine Poem project.

McDowall’s On the Air (Dear Vaccine) is a poetic letter addressing our desires about the COVID-19 vaccine, including the universal hope for things to return to the way they were before the pandemic. It begins quietly with sustained textures providing the backdrop for a lone speaker who implores the Vaccine to make possible the return of singers to the stage. McDowall notes that when asking Street to choose texts, he “treated each line he drew on with the greatest delicacy; of course, every expression was submitted as a cherished wish in the midst of our very bleak, pre-vaccine landscape. Seàn then shaped these extracts into his own poetic form, opening with a spoken address to ‘Dear Vaccine,’ brimming with anticipation. What follows is a progression of increasingly uplifting stanzas, culminating in the lines, ‘We are the choir—unmasked, unveiled, unmuted. Breathe air, and sing!’ Of course, when we conceived the new work, we were hopeful that the pandemic would have faded into the shadows. But alas, here we are, it is still with us and though the singers are masked and veiled, thankfully they are unmuted.”

Listen to the Audio

Photo Gallery

Click any photo to enlarge it.

IMG_7336
IMG_7334
IMG_7337
Unknown-1-copy-2
Unknown-4
Unknown-5
IMG_7332
Unknown
Unknown-2-copy-2
DSC02465
IMG_7330

About

Traveling Stanzas community arts projects bring poetry to people’s everyday lives through innovative methods and digital platforms.

Learn more at TravelingStanzas.com
All content copyright 2021 Traveling Stanzas

KSU-White
UofA-White2
OAC-white

with additional support from the Offices of the President and Provost at the University of Arizona and the Kent State University College of Arts and Sciences.