Two Prose Poems by Hasan Namir

Growing Up in 2020

My child grew up in 2020. We had a lot of things planned for him. All these social activities with family and friends. When the pandemic happened, everything changed.

My child grew up in isolation mostly. Two dads and a baby and a home. Health restrictions escalated just before his first birthday.

My child grew up around a lot of chaos. He wasn’t aware of it all. He was surrounded by parents who made him feel everything was okay.

My child grew up around a lot of fears. His eyes were filled with curiosities and questions. His smile made everything seem all right.

My child grew up around a lot of masks. First, he wouldn’t recognize his dads in masks. He then laughed as he tried to take them it off.

My child grew up in social distances. He would smile at the distant strangers that smiled back at him. He would wave at other babies who were waving back feet apart.

My child grew up in a pandemic. None of what he saw he would remember. His dads cannot wait to tell him his story someday.

WAKE: THE: FUCK: UP

I still have friends who believe COVID isn’t real… the government is controlling us…

WAKE: THE: FUCK: UP

So many memes and posts…people spreading fake news that COVID isn’t real…

WAKE: THE: FUCK: UP

I see people who are dear to me…showing their true privileged colours when told to mask up…

WAKE: THE: FUCK: UP

I see people denying the existence of the COVID virus… until it becomes all too real to them when they or a loved one contracts it…

WAKE: THE: FUCK: UP

I am sick and tired of people believing false information spread by conspiracy theorists…Memes aren’t science…

WAKE: THE: FUCK: UP

I lost people who are very dear to me, they died because of the COVID virus… it’s all too too real so…

WAKE: THE: FUCK: UP

Hasan Namir is an Iraqi-Canadian author. He graduated from Simon Fraser University with a BA in English and received the Ying Chen Creative Writing Student Award. He is the author of God in Pink (2015), which won the Lambda Literary Award for Best Gay Fiction and was chosen as one of the Top 100 Books of 2015 by The Globe and Mail. His work has also been in media across Canada. He is also the author of poetry book War/Torn (2019, Book*hug Press) which received the 2020 Barbara Gittings Honor Book Award from the Stonewall Book Awards, and children’s book The Name I Call Myself (2020). Hasan lives in Vancouver with his husband and child.

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