This piece is part of a series collecting the experiences of researchers during the current COVID-19 pandemic.

Laughter in a time of COVID-19 
by: Reece Dawson 

My neighbours must think I am strange, 

hearing full belly laughter and giggles as the quiet engulfs. 

To the left, incremental music 

To the right, nothing 

Above, jumping jacks 

Beyond my entrance,  

banging of doors greeting hello and goodbye 

as their masters no longer touch. 

Watching our planet  

Nature slowly rebounding from the infections and loss we caused 

Guffaws at the fair play as they are no longer caged and trampled. 

Sitting on surfaces within walls 

Isolated from my pride 

Yet chortling with a stomach filled with memes,  

gifs,  

inspired music,  

social media comments,  

and creativity 

borne out of coping for this beasts’ harshness. 

Laughing at 

dancing to  

beats not realized by Belcalis [Cardi-B] the Wizardess  

but engendered by  

and in her revelation of fear and raw truth. 

Feeling wrong for dancing, 

but being blessed to be able to. 

Feeling shame for laughing, 

but being happy that I can.  

In the uncertainties of it all 

it’s extraordinary, 

finding joy in this isolation. 

Sincerely wishing that neighbours could hear  

the belly-filled laughter and chuckles  

as the quiet envelop days into the night. 

No longer wondering about the thoughts of others  

as I drop a pebble in the symphony of silence 

because the least I can do 

in the moments that ripple then fade 

is own my laughter in the face of the mortal world’s new enemy 

a seemingly temporary fixture in our lives, 

yet an instructively destructive new Master.