2020’s Here and 2020’s Gone
Inspired by my Summer’s Here & Summer’s Gone (2019)- here’s my reflection on this past year.
AHHHHHHHH!, it’s time for
Scary, social distance days.
Frantic, tantric political days
Catching virus and catching craze.
Confederate flags and no parades
Police stand guard, protesters wave
Dumpsters lighted, enemies made
Boring nights, boring days
Bored and frightened, bills to pay
No holidays and dream vacas
Nightmares, doomscrolling, political parlay
TV, TV, DVD me, catching up on all my streaming
Nothing to do, everything to say
This schooling at home will kill us today
Black Lives Matter, All to gather
Against the people who would rather
Protect their privilege, blame the other
Forget that all people have a mother
March for real change, March for each other
Labeled mobsters, attacked by “proud brothers”
Senseless deaths, again and again
Black lives don’t matter, it’s proven
No Justice for these black bodies
No justice for blood or nooses on trees
No guilt will be granted to your oppressors
but covered tracks and senseless slander,
of those supporting Black Lives Matter
Whirling winds above the seas
Hurricanes tearing down the trees
Growing larger, going slow
Make a path of destruction where ‘re they go
Arthur, Bertha, Crystobal
Hannah first to make landfall
Laura in Louisiana, blistering winds take their toll
Then comes Sally rolling slowly
Dumping rain and causing flooding
Burning, burning on my TV
Acres of forest, flame tinged RVs
Where to go, where to sleep
There’s no place where the flames don’t creep
Fighting fires, West Coast state emergencies
Blaming, it’s their own fault, you see
Cooler nights and cooler days
Back to school the President raves
Get your kids there, get them fast
Or financial support for you won’t last.
Zoom Calls, zoom calls
Please no more
Lying exhausted on the floor.
But wait, it’s time for November
Time to turn the nation asunder
Mail your vote. Mail it fast.
The USPS sure won’t last.
In person voting, or it’s libel.
Envelopes your surest rival.
Drop box missing, what to do.
Wait for hours, pay your due.
Counting, counting. what’s the trouble?
Arizona takes forever, hurry hurry on the double
PA, GA turning blue.
Holding their breath the nation does too.
What to do, oh what to do?
Biden, Trump will never concede to you.
Not only are black lives not good,
but their votes are surely falsehoods
Pittsburg, Atlanta, Madison
Litigations just begun.
Electorates, will you please vote?
Give a yep, or a nope?
Do your duty, tell the truth?
Or will you seek to join the coup?
Bustling thoughts, it’s time to rest
Where to go, what to do
Hibernate til COVID’s through
Too scared to move, too scared to rest
2020 at its best
Downing drinks and popping pills
Mistrusting neighbors, opposing views,
glare from top their window sills
Frenzied frantic, beleaguered, now done
2020’s here and 2020’s gone.
Gabriele Replogle January 7, 2021
Barge
Wow wow wow. What a reflection