A Poem for 2020
[Listen to an audio version of this blog here.]
At the end of every year, I write a poem for the year that is coming to a close. 2020 was unlike any year, but any year is unlike any year. And a year is nothing more than an arbitrary measure of time, anyway. May all your years be filled with enough joy to make them worthwhile and enough pain to keep you humble. As we turn the page to 2021, let's remember that our problems are "sitting shotgun" and there is no good way to outrun them. Let's be kind to ourselves and everyone else. Let's put our phones down and laugh with the people who matter. Let's be grateful for small things while also striving toward bigger ones. Let's shun complacency and embrace gratitude. Let's hold ourselves accountable and give second chances. Let's all be and do better. That's the entire point of this thing called life.
I hope you enjoy my poem.
2020
the year we all sat on our hands
grew fat with rage
covered our faces and
shunned each other through screens
learned sometimes
it’s best to not say anything
the year of too many mouths
talking too loudly
quarantine times three
and it’s not over yet
the year of civil unrest
police violence
mail in ballots
another old white man elected to office
Kamala Harris
so many deaths:
RBG
Alex Trebeck
Sean Connery
Eddie Van Halen
Naya Rivera
330,000 Americans
and counting
2020 was the year
we all woke up
counting out rations
counting down days
counting the number of freshly dug graves
counting the rates of infection
having the same conversations
the year we danced in the streets
five days post-election
made banners for doctors and nurses
stood in lines for grocery stores
the year I let go of perfection
found my religion in mountains
beneath trees
watching the sunrise bleed over earth
kept my friends close
and discarded my enemies
2020 was a strange and exhausting place
but this life was never meant to be easy
I promised myself that I’d try something new
bought a pair of nice shoes
ran into water and sunk
luck is a construct we all tend to believe in
none of us win when the earth is on fire
and our cities are spinning in debt
the system we’re in is too complex
to be untied by a poet like me
most of the time
I just want to feel something
2020 was the year
we stopped walking like zombies
woke up from complacency
some of us dove right back in
numbed ourselves with alcohol
and too much TV
fell over backward believing
what we’ve been told
but nobody knows
what we’re doing
cancel culture
Black lives matter
defund the police
legalize weed
legalize heroin
legalize walking outside again
legalize gyms or common sense
the year cynicism swallowed me whole
woke up floating in the belly of a whale
who spit me out on the shores of doom
it is too soon to predict
where we go from here
2020 was a year
of bad luck wrapped up in a blessing
reminding me
never to take my breath for granted
to stand up and scream when I need to
more often, to sit down and listen
wishing for change
is different than making it
different than praying
we’ve been waiting all year for a new one
but our problems are sitting shotgun
luck is a construct we all tend to believe in
none of us win
when half of us lose
I’m closing this year with gratitude
a new pair of shoes
a drop of humility beneath my tongue
and handfuls of love
P.S. Watch a video version here:
xoxo
Sarah Rose