And The People Stayed Home

“Kitty O’Meara offers us wisdom that can help during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond. She is challenging us to grow”
Deepak Chopra, MD, author, Metahuman

“Kitty O’Meara is the poet laureate of the pandemic”
O, The Oprah Magazine

“An eloquent, heart-warming reflection that will resonate with generations to come… encouragement for a brighter tomorrow.”
Kate Winslet, Academy Award-winning actress

“It captured the kind of optimism people need right now.”
Esquire (UK)

“Kitty O’Meara…captured the world’s attention with her poem…showing readers the ways that the stillness and quiet could heal.”
Wisconsin State Journal

“A stunning and peaceful offering of introspection and hope.”
The Children’s Book Review

“Kitty O’Meara’s pandemic poem is a story for all ages about living in a challenging and troubling world— awake and full of hope—with an awareness of our own resilience.”
Susan Lambert, psychotherapist and host of the podcast In the Balance

“One of the most popular pandemic poems to date …the emotion she shared resonated through a prism of social media remixes, showing up in images on Instagram, in YouTube videos, reposted on Twitter and beyond. It was translated into dozens of languages and even turned into song.”
To the Best of Our Knowledge (NPR)

“And the People Stayed Home is a deeply reflective poem that offers a hopeful and helpful message for people of all ages during this challenging time. It encourages everyone to think about…this difficult moment and to use it for good—to heal ourselves and those we love, and to consider how we might come together as one to heal the world.”
Dr. Judy Ho, neuropsychologist, author, and television and podcast host

“It’s obvious why this meditative poem has resonated so deeply with people: It inserts the idea of individual agency back into something out of our control, and imagines that the time after this will not only exist—it’ll be better than before.”
Book Riot