Every Journal is a Plague Journal, by Raye Hendrix

Prose, poetry, chapbook, 32 pages, from Bottlecap Features. Every Journal is a Plague Journal is a window into the unique experience of navigating the world with OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder) that manifests primarily as hypochondria, especially during the rapidly changing world in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. These poems trace the ontological dizziness brought about by watching society suddenly adopt many of the behaviors it had previously considered aberrant as “best practices” in a pandemic-ravaged world: frequent temperature checks and hand-washing, the use of masks, gloves, and hand sanitizer, diligently disinfecting surfaces, avoiding large crowds, and self-imposed isolation are some of the most widespread behaviors that have become the new “normal” that have always been part of everyday life for the speaker of these poems. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, an obsession with one’s health and well-being is suddenly no longer reserved for the “germaphobes”—and yet,