Lucy Poduschnik, a seventh grade student at Middlebury Union Middle School wrote these two poems, Her words reflect the experience that she and many of her peers are having during the COVID-19 pandemic. 
 
Housebound
 
I glance out the window hoping to see somebody,
The games are spread across the ground after being played over and over
again,
I will myself to stay sane,
I pinch myself to see if maybe I am just dreaming,
Someone I hardly know stares back at me in the mirror,
A terrible bedhead,
pajamas with baggy knees after being worn all day,
square eyes from so much time on the computer,
Who is that?
I whisper to nobody in particular,
What have I become?
Will my friends remember what I look like?
Questions fill my head…
A single tear drips from my eye,
I miss my school,
I miss my friends,
I miss my life.
 
 
 
Square eyes
 
All school kids have them now,
After hours of staring at the computer,
Staying up later and later,
And waking up at noon,
The bags under a child’s eyes shouldn’t be that big, A child‘s skin shouldn’t be that pale —they should be in the sun;
Playing,
Not typing or watching videos all day.
What are we supposed to do?
The teachers all say don’t worry about schoolwork so much;
It’s not a priority.
Yet we get SO much work,
Inboxes flooded with emails,
Loads of work waiting to be done,
The kids sitting at the computer.
Square eyes sitting at the computer.