I Hope by Raisa Gorbachev

I Hope by Raisa Gorbachev

In the Days of Our Unrest: June - August 2020 picks up where In the Days of Our Seclusion, Book 1 of what is now called the Pandemic Poems Project, leaves off. This book follows the heated season of the summer, when temperatures and social turbulence led to historic wildfires, relentless hurricanes, and an unbroken chain of protests against incessant injustice that resounded through the streets of most American cities, and around the world. And during all this, the pandemic refused to give us a break as well-in other words, an overabundance of material for this daily report.

In the Days of Our Unrest: June - August 2020 is the second book in a series that documents the odyssey of the poet and singer-songwriter, Nathan Brown, as he explores the new world of no more live gigs. As his travel and performing career took a painful dive in the wake of the coronavirus, he put out the request for anyone who might want to commission a personalized poem for a donation of any size. Not thinking much of it at the time, the project has now grown into a full-time job that is close to actually paying the bills. This book is the culmination of the project's second season - the heated season of the summer, when temperatures and social turbulence led to historic wildfires, relentless hurricanes, and an unbroken chain of protests against incessant injustice that resounded through the streets of most American cities, and around the world.

As requests are still pouring in, the sense of need and urgency on the part of those who are contributing has not let up, so Nathan has continued the series of live online videos called The Fire Pit Sessions, as a way for him to share in 'real-time' the emotions, concerns, and questions that the participants were expressing in the midst of the pandemic. At well over 30,000 views now, The Fire Pit Sessions have become a key ingredient in spreading the word for new commissions that will appear in the third and fourth books in the series.