Executive Director of the Shelby County Arts Council
Bruce Andrews has entertained us through the coronavirus
quarantine with his orginal poetry and lyrics.
Leading with Laughter
SCAC director shows us how a little humor
and creativity go a long way in tough times.
BY JEANA DURST
“Quarantine, O’ Quarantine, Why you got
to be so mean, O’ quarantine?” That’s the
question that opens every Facebook episode
of “G’s Poetry Corner,” a side-splitting parody
of a Shakespearian ode, from Shelby County’s
entertaining and well-loved advocate of the arts,
Bruce Andrews. In his role as Executive Director
of the Shelby County Arts Council, Andrews
supports, nurtures, and promotes the arts and
cultural opportunities. But from his home during
the COVID-19 quarantine, he has been leading
with poetry and a heaping dose of humor.
From his living room this “quarantine bard”
greets “ladies and germs” regularly on Facebook
and keeps us entertained with his original rhymes
throughout what is otherwise such a serious
time. What started as an effort to stay in contact
with his grandkids during social distancing by
reading Shel Silverstein morphed into his own
creative endeavor and gave way to his original
poems, which hysterically poke fun of the surreal
hardships of the whole quarantine experience.
20 Bham Family May 2020
“Originally, I was going to do it for my wife just
to lift her spirits, and she thought it would be
cute if I took videos for my grandsons because
they like to see me be goofy—it kind of comes
natural,” Andrews says. (His grandsons call him
“G,” hence the name of the performances.)
With some of the videos now liked by as many
as 2,000, the endeavor has certainly gained
momentum, though Andrews jokes that “Jimmy
Fallon hasn’t called yet.”
He shares that, like so many of us, this
quarantine has given him more time to
contemplate his hobbies and that he fancies
himself a songwriter, which is what spurred him
to create lyrical poetry. Complete with costumes,
theatrical background music, an exaggerated
accent, and the laugh track from his camera
“crew” and wife, Joy Andrews, these Facebook
poems are great fun for the whole family. And
the rhymes are so relatable—from poems where
he bemoans toilet paper hoarders imagining their
silly “TP shrines,” to ones where he sings the
praises of Oreo’s and other types of quarantine
comfort food.