Love in the Time of Coronavirus: Five Poems

In 2020, Hong Kong-based poet Ho Fuk Yan wrote his poetry anthology entitled Love in the Time of Coronavirus, illustrating relationships under social distancing and masking regulations, the trauma of quarantine, and life beyond the pandemic. A selection of poems were translated to English by Teresa Shen.

The poems highlight the difficulty of establishing close relationships during the pandemic, where masks obstructed the face and hindered communication. In the titular poem “Love in the Time of Coronavirus,” Ho writes, “I cannot make out your words / But your eyes, full of misgiving / full of sadness, why?” (Shen 114), which speaks to the loneliness exacerbated by the inability to conduct social interactions as normal and provide support to each other during the pandemic. The persona laments being unable to understand others more deeply and expresses love towards others by imagining the beauty of their facial features concealed under a mask. “I want to admire / the luster in your hair / the poise and sureness of your nose” (Shen 114), Ho writes, whereas he represents physical expressions of intimacy as dangerous and undesirable. In “Keeping You inside My Mask,” the lines “No more kisses / Any exchange of saliva is / a deeply dangerous act / It could betray you” (Shen 115) evoke disgust by referring to kissing as an “exchange of saliva.” These descriptions of close relationships show how mask-wearing shaped new but more alienating forms of love and intimacy during the pandemic. They also reflect the dehumanizing power of masks, in the literal sense that they made people appear less human by their human features, as well as preventing the formation of essential human experiences.

Ho also highlights the trauma of social stigmatization for being a COVID-19 patient in his poems “Sick Ship” and “I Have a Nightmare.” In “Sick Ship,” he uses the extended metaphor of a ship that is unable to dock because all the islands fear it will infect them to demonstrate the perception of COVID-19 patients as disease spreaders, which leads to their exclusion in society. The final line, “Poor thing, a fisherman observes from the shore / Please, don’t pollute the ocean” (Shen 116), further emphasizes the stigmatization and unfriendliness COVID-19 patients face, as it illustrates how COVID-19 patients are blamed for “polluting” their environments by simply existing.

The poem “I Have a Nightmare” describes pandemic experiences through a series of nightmares, including strict quarantine measures in “One day, I was quarantined / Not for the color of my skin / But for the less than 50 meters’ / distance with the hidden virus” (Shen 117), where the persona expresses helplessness at being quarantined for being in proximity to the virus, which he can barely control; and mask wearing regulations that stigmatize COVID-19 patients in the lines, “No more face masks; only for sinners / face masks, once put on, stay forever” (Shen 117). The poems illustrate the pandemic experience as one clouded by the fear of dehumanization, as being infected with the virus not only poses danger to one’s health, but also deprives them of their humanity, as society views them as threats that must be excluded or quarantined away from the collective.

Ho’s love poems subvert conventional narratives of romance, attraction, and affection, highlighting the impact of mask wearing on close relationships and the perception of the body, which shaped the experiences of regular social activities during the pandemic. He also exposes the stigmatization of COVID-19 patients in Hong Kong, and how infection control policies may have contributed to this phenomenon. Both themes reflect the dehumanization caused by the pandemic, as new habits and attitudes intended to protect people from the virus carry the unfortunate side effect of breaking down human experiences and diminishing the humanity of COVID-19 patients.