This poem was inspired by one of Fleassy Malay‘s pendemic writing prompts. The prompt was to write to 2020 as if it were a person. I’ve often struggled with personification in the past but this one actually came pretty easily.
Dear 2020
Thank you
Just when I thought I couldn’t know my loneliness any better
Here you are
Ripping open my heart
And holding it in your powerful hands
Still beating
Blood slowing covering your wrists
Like icing dripping down the side of a cake
Happy birthdays
The chorus of well-wishers are just echos against the walls and tiles
But I’m still grateful
For the four presents you brought me:
One. Courage to bang nails into the walls
And hang mirrors on the backs of all my doors
So when I felt like curling in deeper
I knew that at least I loved me
And you did too
Who else could be so cruel?
Two. Opportunities to shout into the void
To tell stories to the wind
To read poems through a screen
And you made people valuable that more so than ever
You demanded the exchange of their paper for my paper
Triumphantly declaring me legitimate
Three. Time to hone a craft
You challenged me to give words to each day that curls off the calendar
Like the leaves we’ve watch cycle through seasons
The only reasons to leave our house was to see that the world still turned
And to feed the need to write you out of my system
Four. A hunger to redefine connection
You made me ask for help so many times
And found some comfortable spaces to lie in
With people who’ve known me for longer than you
Bringing me back to the familial fold, the community holding me close
All of us declaring that this is the silver lining
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