open letter to 2020

 

the neighbors shoot fireworks from their
driveways. a firepit burns oak branches
lately fallen from stately young trees lining
backyard boundaries. the smell of smoke and sunscreen
the sound of shredding crackers in the distance.

it's new years eve where i'm at. earlier, ausies
went thru this same thing, while i was making breakfastt
it's a real time warp which our internetting makes possible
and it's already tomorrow there, isn't it? it's tomorrow
where you're at too. and now you're just yesterday.

people be talkin you down, but i don't blame you,
so much. being born at the wrong time
isn't entirely your fault, despite what the upanishads
suggest. and that whole pandemic thing didn't
even begin with you. dammit, it's called -19 for a reason.

so i think you've been pretty goddamn eye opening.
telling it like it is, hindsight aint' the only thing
with tweny/twenty vision. you've shown a liberty
light on the hypocrisy that rules this country, if not

the whole frikin world. you've held its laser focus
on the things that matter, whom they matter to,
and whose opinions matter. no wonder you're vilified.
it's almost christlike, the way you've exposed all the temples'
slick slimy underbellies.i don't have to go

into specifics, you know what you've seen,
what we've all been through, together. the unstable
madman holding the world hostage was legally

ousted by you. wtf, no one should hate on that momentus acheivement.
that it almost didn't happen is not the point. that's just more
snake eye truth about your neighbors -the 50%
of people that you don't agree with. the flags are still in their yards,

you didn't get rid of that, but that's 2021's problem now.
you did your best. it was good enough. that so many deaths
occurred on your watch is a tragedy. but perhaps your tragedies
will lead to real progress for all people, not just those with power.
this year, we've been given hope, a respite from the money

that's mastered us for so long. we saw what can happen when we
truly work together. we saw what can happen when we divide
this young country this younng empire, this young

frankenstein of a dream, cobbled together
from huddled masses, hell hole flights and hope.
no year ever showed better what we really are.

goodbye 2020. don't think i'll forget you.

Concerned

 I'm a bit concerned because I haven't heard from you. This rain is a missed between us. There's so much commotion in my heart, like smoke in a closed room, swirling in  its own weight.

Your sister pays for the lot of us. My hopes to be abandoned to please my gods. Yet still she rises. And you, going through the motions of adult. I'm so sorry for all of this. How we couldn't make realities out of all those things we knew we should be.

There was either a gunshot or a transformer that just blew up. I'm outside of work in the mist.  it coats my windshield with speckles. I guess 65 isn't too old for my first book as long as it's my last. Whatever it was there are no sirens, although I see somebody leaving the building she does not look terrified. But we all should be anticipating the next big bang.