Category: 2020-21 Submissions

2020.

A year where over 80 million people caught the coronavirus. Some survived. And some didn’t.
A year where over three million animals were killed due to the wildfires.
It was a year where people like Brennon Taylor, George Floyd, Michael J. Rivera, Vincent Harris and so many more were taken from this world by the police system.
It was a year when people spent more time worrying about the political issues of wearing a mask rather than just listening to the health officials and protecting themselves and others.
It was a year of protests and riots over issues that could not be solved by a simple statement.

The list could go on forever because 2020 was a year of chaos.

But, 2020 was also a lesson.

Through this year, we have learned the importance of being with family. Of valuing the time that we spend with others because who knows what can happen next.
This year has taught us to cherish the simple acts like giving a hug to someone without being forced to wear a mask.
This year has shown us the growth of technology in that we are able to video chat with our loved ones during difficult times.
This year has taught us to hold out hope, even when it seems like nothing can be better. On December 14, the first American citizen got the Covid-19 vaccine, giving us hope that soon life will get back to normal.

With everything that’s occurred this year, it’s important to reflect on the little good that happened along with the bad. Despite all the pain that this year brought, we should have hope that 2021 will be better. Some believe that we will go back to our daily motions of life and it will be like nothing ever happened. But it is important to take these lessons that 2020 has brought us and use them.

We pack up all the lessons that this past year has taught us, and we wait for the next event that life will throw at us. We say goodbye to 2020 and hello to 2021.

These days, the question: “Why did you,
our friend, a double edged sword,
let people apply
a power whose consequences some cannot afford?”
Engulfs our thoughts

Was it the mask you put on that
created the delusion:
“Societal approval is necessary to survival”?
We have yet to reach a conclusion

When Mr. Mollo forgot to
wish his best friend a “happy birthday”
His friendship was hurt and
their relationship withered away

If Alison had studied, for her exams, just a few minutes more,
a bigger effort (by a mere five minutes!) she could have made;
perhaps she would have passed the class.
But didn’t due to her failing grades

If the person walking down the sidewalk had been
less distracted and more aware,
they would’ve noticed the metal screw protruding from the ground;
the one that snagged their pants, causing them to tear

A tree cannot come to be
unless its planted from seed
My friend, you never realized
its us, not that negative power, that you need

For we can destroy friendships,
save lives, or prevent an attack
We’re sure you know as well as any
“it was the straw that broke the camel’s back”

As tiny as some of us are,
we are all of significance; and don’t need to grow bigger
If you look closely enough,
You’ll notice we’re all in the bigger picture

Best regards,
the Little Things

Haunting the hushed night
Hallucinations of swirls
Insomniac drain

Motorcycle revs
Imaginary owl hoots
Insomniac strain

Shadows swelling in
Merging with the popping swirls
Insomniac pain

Countless words passing
Of thoughts never heard again
Insomniac brain

Will the world quiet?
Will nothing be heard somewhen?
Insomniac dream

I wish to recognize a world
Of three generations prior
Behold willed ignorance
prefacing
the beginning of the end

And what defines a generation?
Tragedy—around which we organize
Well, cheers to progress!
Emerging problems and modern answers
Cycles of collateral damage
We’re dying to overcome

Because when the smog clears
I am a great grandmother
Glimpsing the Tatra peaks from Krakow
And swans parading Italian canals
Intoxicated by a fickle hope

That momentary reprieve
As we advance our chaos
Sheltered away—always drifting
Further, then hurtling
Fateful comet or
Weapon of mass destruction we are
Killing ourselves with knowledge
Flinging solutions and
Waiting

Disappearing into thin air
Perhaps I should
Because I became a ghost

People walking through me dressed in coats of fur,
I can barely feel
The warmth.

In the cool night,
I wonder through the paved streets
With no goal
To occupy my empty mind.

I’m withering away.
The wind blows, dissipating my shape.

And yet
I still see
I still hear
I still smell
I’m still here.

And never will I want to leave
Thoughts are flying through my head
I need to return.
My shoes need to finally touch the cobblestone of the pavement

And with this will all changed
There would not be an epitaph,

For I had spoken with the homeless man on the beach,
For I had fed the larks pieces of bread,
For I had managed to talk to one of my forgotten friends.

I’ve been brought back into the world,
And it drives through me
All the experiences flood my mind

Singing songs,
Forest walks,
Conversations long,
Perusing streets,
Eating treats,
Greeting friends,
Swimming deep,
Feeling breeze,
Hearing birds,
Holding hands.

I wish to recognize a world
Of three generations prior
Behold willed ignorance
prefacing
the beginning of the end

And what defines a generation?
Tragedy—around which we organize
Well, cheers to progress!
Emerging problems and modern answers
Cycles of collateral damage
We’re dying to overcome

Because when the smog clears
I am a great grandmother
Glimpsing the Tatra peaks from Krakow
And swans parading Italian canals
Intoxicated by a fickle hope

That momentary reprieve
As we advance our chaos
Sheltered away—always drifting
Further, then hurtling
Fateful comet or
Weapon of mass destruction we are
Killing ourselves with knowledge
Flinging solutions and
Waiting

Covid,
You can’t see it and yet it manages to kill people.
It surges through the world
with its wings flapping on it’s back,
silently doing it’s work to the innocent townspeople
like a black bird soaring through the night sky looking for it’s next kill.
You lost everything to it.
All the big leaders can talk all they want but they don’t know what the pain feels like.
People behind the scenes are risking their life everyday
and they get no credit.
It spikes.

You open your mouth and scream,
you scream for all those who didn’t get justice,
you scream for your mom.
Your scream
pierces the world with a sense of lost hope.
But a glimmer of light shines through the once closed doors
Hope is finally spreading its wings
You know the future will be better
Covid,
Silent but deadly.

Why am I still sitting?
It’s far to late in the night to be up.
To be aware of your how your toes tickle on the soft part of the crunchy brown carpet.
Sitting and watching.
Like a cat, staring at a bird.
Unbeknownst to the four confining walls around her
And the deceiving glass, mocking her.
Laughing at her.

I sit and I ponder;
How does time pass so perfectly?
Minutes, hours, days, weeks, all line up so neat.
Numbers
And seasons
And night
And day.
All blur together and make the universe seem effortless.

Walking into a new year is like a movie never ending.
You expect the problems to solve,
The credits to play,
And then everyone leaves the theater.
But what if things keep going?
What if you’re trapped?
They lock the doors while the movie plays.
To keep everybody from missing the end.
So if the end never comes,
Do the people just sit and crumble and slowly loose their minds?

I don’t understand how everyone makes these jokes.
About how ‘I survived.’
And ‘can’t wait to leave it
all behind
when the clock strikes twelve’.
As if the entire world’s scars would heal
Pain would cease
Minds would calm
And missing would be found
Once the year just ended.

The sky is bleeding
And throwing away our calendars won’t seal the wounds.
We can pretend things can go back to normal.
Plaster on fake smiles
And watch as the seconds line up.
Watch as nervous laughter fills our streets.
Watch like the red will turn green.
But wouldn’t it be funny…

If the people all said it was over
And acted like they didn’t just witness
A downpour of chaotic pain.
They cheered
And hid their hurt.

But the sky still leaked red?

Valkyries escort you across the Bifrost,
The snowflake landscape burning exhaust,
Melting to a continental empire of desire and oil,
Bow down to the same blue veined, bloodstained royals.
Shrouded in the veil, snow kissed of the Eldrich mists,
That false creed only persists with narcissists.

So order your stained glass manors by the dozen,
I’m sure you’re secure in your decisions,
It’s not like you’re held to repercussions.
Weave a tapestry of a hero to be worshipped,
Formed in the image, The very visage
Of her Highness, her Grace, her Lordship.

I don’t need grand estates or feudal titles,
Adorn me in Brussels lace and vicious cycles,
The wheel still turns, so surely it isn’t broken,
London bridges burned and I have spoken.