Listen to Siobhan Hebron read her poem, “If I Die From Covid.”

 

The following was written on May 17th, 2020 when US deaths were at 84,263; as of August 4th they were at 157,041. If I Die From Covid If I die from Covid, don’t say my life was lost. Because it was taken. If I die from Covid, don’t say I passed away. Because I was murdered. If I die from Covid, know that I died sad and angry. If I die from Covid, please be kind to my family and friends. If I die from Covid, please give the healthcare workers that looked after me gratitude and tenderness. If I die from Covid, hurl my ashes across the White House fence in the legacy of protest and sacrifice for other US pandemics that ravaged populations. If I die from Covid, never, ever forgive this administration. This didn’t have to be ‘what it is.’ For all of the lives we have not had the opportunity to mourn, and all of the wonder those lives did and could have continued to bring to the world.

 

 

Siobhan Hebron is an interdisciplinary artist living and working in Los Angeles. She graduated from UCLA in 2012 with a B.A. in both Art and Art History. Hebron’s work takes from her personal diagnosis of cancer and broader dialogues of illness, chronic conditions, disability and ableism, and the sick female body. Her most recent project was an 80+ page compilation of her own work over the last five years, released on the five year anniversary of her cancer diagnosis. Hebron is currently pursuing a Patient Advocacy certificate and plans to continue exploring and making work about illness to advance conversations between the artistic and medical communities. Follow her on Instagram, Twitter, and her website siobhanhebron.com.