Breathe: Reflections and Poetry from the 2020 Lockdown

When COVID-19 landed at our doorstep last spring, we collectively felt the heaviness of a global crisis not seen before in our lifetime. Schools shutdown, businesses closed down, borders sealed up, jobs became virtual, and we barricaded ourselves inside our homes waiting to be told that it’s over. Waiting and watching the news. But then the news began spewing staggering numbers and heartbreaking images… hour by hour, day after day. Under the immense emotional toil, Tumkeen spent nights awake with anxiety and days tensing up every time she heard an ambulance siren speed down the road. It is then when she decided that she would transform the burden of living under a lockdown into a chance of leaning into gratitude and hope. And a challenge to herself was born.Tumkeen spent the next 30 days taking the troubles of her heart and turning them into lessons of healing and growth. She shared some of them but there was so much more going on in her heart. She began writing poetry as well. She com