Social Distancing

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 2020

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Poem Analysis

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Further Reading & Resources

Related Poems

"Bracero(s) & The Ice Car, a Mexican Lynching" by Anthony Cody (2019)

The visual artist responsible for arranging Herrera’s “Social Distancing,” Anthony Cody’s work often reflects his interest in altering the ways poems take up physical space on the page. Both in content and form, “Bracero(s) & The Ice Car” is a poem that illustrates Cody’s many uses of language. Like “Social Distancing,” “Bracero(s)” offers multiple ways of reading the text and spaces between different lines and phrases.

"I Have This Way of Being" by Jamaal May (2016)

Contemporary poet Jamaal May’s “I Have This Way of Being” is an interesting text to compare with “Social Distancing.” Although May’s poem is more formally structured in couplets that follow a somewhat rhythmic structure, it is also a poem that balances the abstract and the concrete. Additionally, the short line structure and shifts in language lead to a similar kind of movement as is present in Herrera’s “Social Distancing.”

"Poem by Poem" by Juan Felipe Herrera (2015)

A more explicitly political poem from Herrera’s broad repertoire, “Poem by Poem” is written in response to a shooting in 2015, when white supremacist Dylan Roof killed nine Black churchgoers in Charleston, South Carolina. The poem utilizes blank spaces and the first-person plural perspective to enhance the quick movement of the poem, which entreats readers to “end the violence” (Line 2). Though “Poem by Poem” is substantially different from “Social Distancing,” both pieces reflect Herrera’s interest in engaging in contemporary social issues and inviting readers into making the world a better, more peaceful place.

"The End of Poetry" by Ada Limón (2020)

Perhaps the most directly relatable piece to Herrera’s “Social Distancing,” Ada Limón’s “The End of Poetry” is a text directly responding to the Covid-19 pandemic and refers to the physical isolation people experienced. Limón’s poem is a litany of specific poetic references and images that she wants to get rid of; she closes with the plea: “I am asking you to touch me” (Line 21). Though “The End of Poetry” is different in form from Herrera’s piece, it contains many similar elements—especially in regard to theme.

Further Literary Resources

"From the fields to the Library of Congress, Juan Felipe Herrera took a winding path to poetry" by PBS News Hour (2015)

This hour-long video profiles Juan Felipe Herrera shortly after his appointment to U.S. Poet Laureate in 2015. In the video, interviewer Jeffrey Brown talks to Herrera at his home in California’s San Joaquin Valley. Part biography, part tour, part discussion of poetry, the video offers an intimate look at Herrera’s identity, home, and career.

Together in a Sudden Strangeness: America’s Poets Respond to the Pandemic edited by Alice Quinn (2020)

As the Covid-19 pandemic raged across the United States, editor Alice Quinn enlisted poets across the country to dispatch submissions responding to the state of the world. The collection, which contains 107 poets’ work, is a powerful collection that speaks to the ways people experienced and interpreted their lives through a devastating public health crisis. This text would be a useful cross-reference for analyzing “Social Distancing” in relation to a larger genre of pandemic poetry.

"What can poetry offer us in distressing times" podcast by Zócalo (2020)

In this podcast episode, Juan Felipe Herrera engages in conversation with Arizona Poet Laureate Alberto Ríos, poet Inez Tan, and Los Angeles Times editorial board member and moderator Carla Hall. The discussion centered on the titular question of how poetry can relate to peoples’ experience in challenging times, including the Covid-19 pandemic.