Patterns of Time

by Lori Anderson

Patterns of time.
Survivors & descendants
of survivors. Patterns.
Pandemics & problems,
People can survive,
People do survive.

poster of war women 1918
War Poster from Witherby & Co. Photo from Wikimedia.

Patterns

Patterns. From a small seed to a full, swirling pattern. Repeating, repeating. Giving birth to new patterns. Falling to give way to time.

empty streets in China from Covid19
Empty streets in China from Covid19. Business Insider/Reuters.
Soldiers wearing masks marching up streets in 1918/19
March of humanity 1918/19. Business Insider.
empty cathedral hall
Empty halls 2020.
Pexels.com
empty cathedral hall
Full trenches 1917 & 1918.
Wikipedia.
empty stadium seats
Empty stadium seats 2020.
Pexels.com

Fall

The leaves fall and the shadows deepen. Time swirls. Ebbing, flowing patterns.The rising and setting of the sun and moon. Fall draws us on to the cold winter.

full streets in China town
The 2019 peak of activity in the fall.
K. Kliche / Pixabay.
The 1918/19 peak of mortality in the fall.
The 1918/19 peak of mortality in the fall.
Wikimedia.
Schoolgirls wear masks to protect from the Spanish flu in Japan
Japanese schoolgirls during Spanish Flu.
Bettmann / Business Insider

Winter

The cold, hard winter. Empty, frozen patterns. Invisible patterns. Patterns that choke, that try to kill the hope lying dormant under the snow.

Empty city street
Empty city streets, 2020.
Pexels.com
full warehouse of Spanish flu patients in Kansas
Full emergency hospital, Kansas, 1918.
National Museum of Health / AP / Wikimedia
empty cathedral hall
Empty subways 2020.
Pexels.com

Spring

Hope dares. Winter screams. Spring hides under the bleakness. Hope remains unseen until — Spring grows brave, strengthened by the rising sun.

old newspaper notice of Spanish flu quarantine
1918 Spanish flu notice.
lakecountrycalendar.com
Man in quarantine looking out window
Shelter-in-place order, 2020.
Pexels.com
People in quarantine masks, one with a sign that says wear a mask or go to jail
Mask up or else. 1918/19
Designyoutrust.com

Summer

The sun shines bright. Patterns grow. Descendants of patterns reach towards the sun. Patterns ripen. Beautiful and bright, patterns of time swirl on.

Lady in straw hat, with hands raised, in a field of sunflowers
Victory Garden 2020!
Pexels.com
1917 poster of Uncle Sam in garden.
Victory Garden 1917!
U.S. Government National Archives