Months of Flames

POET'S NOTE: A blitz poem is meant to be read as quickly as possible, only pausing to breathe. I couldn't think of a more fitting poetic form to encapsulate my experience of 2020. Also, even though Blitz Poem titles are only supposed to be three words, I personally prefer adding the entirety of Line 47 of this poem to get the more complete, extended title of: "Months of Flames From the Ongoing Dumpster-Fire."


Exhausting for days
Exhausting for months
Months of quarantine
Months of anxiety
Anxiety over the election
Anxiety over public health
Health of our institutions
Health of our people
People who look like us
People who don’t
Don’t want to change
Don’t want to listen
Listen to each other
Listen to common sense
Sense of morality
Sense of equality
Equality for race
Equality for God’s grace
Grace toward sin
Grace toward mistakes
Mistakes of judgment
Mistakes of perception
Perception of America’s standing
Perception of the Other
Other human beings
Other ways of life
Life is sacred
Life is fragile
Fragile peace
Fragile balance
Balance of sanity
Balance of ideals
Ideals for a better society
Ideals for a better world
World apart
World divided
Divided against each other
Divided against our own
Own our successes
Own our failures
Failures of imagination
Failures of execution
Execution of basic decency
Execution of policy
Policy of selfishness
Policy of fanning the flames
Flames from the ongoing dumpster-fire
Flames from the Year 2020
2020...
Dumpster-fire...


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Lines: 40
Form: Blitz Poem  
Written for: "The Not-So-Daily Poem"  and "I Write in 2020" 
Prompt: Write a poem about seeing 2020 off. Will you send it away with a bang or a whimper? Is it dependent on something external? Maybe 2020 hasn't bothered you all that much. That's fair, too.