WATCH: Poet captures the roller-coaster ride of the pandemic

Jasmine Gardosi always wanted to perform a poem on a roller coaster. But there needed to be a reason, a subject worthy of riding a theme-park attraction. And then the coronavirus pandemic happened -- and kept happening.

The global emergency ushered in nearly two years of whiplash -- and counting. Caseloads and deaths continue to fall and rise, followed by mask mandates and other restrictions. Eventually, the emergence of effective vaccines did puncture the dread, but then came the news of waning immunity. It’s been a lot.

When Adrian B. Earle, a friend and fellow poet, egged her on to finally put prose to a roller coaster -- in an emotional and literal sense -- Gardosi got her “pipe dream” right on track. She worked with filmmaker Paul Stringer to produce the video, after the British charity National Literacy Trust commissioned her to write the poem.

(Video by Paul Stringer, courtesy of National Literacy Trust)

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