Patchwork Prose and Verse
Goodbye 2020
seventeen hours: goodbye 2020!
not hello 2021. goodbye 2020.
goodbye covid
goodbye strange phenomena
no 2021 red carpet – just a 2020 eviction notice
pack all your crap and leave!
goodbye 2020 and all your baggage
leave nothing on the curbside
take everything – we’re moving on
you were a dumpster fire
leave nothing of your monstrous DNA
baby new year isn’t yours
and don’t play phoenix, either
pack covid and go!
2021 bears no relation to you
goodbye forever 2020!
1838: Lingering
MDCCCXXXVIII
Pictures tell the stories
Paris: earliest known photograph of a recognizable human form taken by Louis Daguerre
Appearance is important
The fellow was having his boots shined
Exercise
London in February: pedestrian walks backward 20 miles, then forward, in 8 hours
Save a penny for a rainy day
New Orleans: mint opens, making dimes
Notice the beauty in the everyday world
London: National Gallery opens
Appreciate freedom
Frederick Douglass, disguised as sailor, escapes slavery
Think things through
England: Silkstone Mining Disaster – floods drown 26 children
Pray for others
1838
MDCCCXXXVIII
London: fire sweeps Lloyds Coffee House and Royal Exchange
medium roast coffee
Samuel Morse invents telegraph
thoughtfully brewed for me
First recorded lowest temperature: -60° in Yakutsk
warms my heart
South Africa: Weenen massacre
and revives my spirit
Maryland: Kentucky and Maine US Representatives have rifle duel (lobster loses)
in a world gone crazy mad
Trail of Tears: forcible relocation of the Cherokee Nation
in a cruel, unjust world
London: Coronation of Queen Victoria at Westminster Abbey
where I’m treated like royalty:
Frederick vessel first to accurately measure star distances
Chick Fil A nuggets in the cab of a
pickup truck, watching the
Christmas Star – the Star of a King
1841 El Camino?
MDCCCXLI
James Morris’ diary: Groundhog Day
Fog City Golden Glue?
U.S. vs. The Amistad: Illegal slavery
The Farmer and the Felon?
Tower of London: fire destroys Grand Armoury
King’s Garden?
James Braid sees animal magnetism~hypnotism
Tangerine Turtle and White Rabbit?
London: Punch! first published
Tropical Haze?
President first dies in Office: Harrison (pneumonia)
Emerald Sky Drops?
James Clark Ross finds Ross Ice Shelf
Pacific Stone Blue Dream?
1845, Humming Tunes
MDCCCXLV
Love is a Many-Splendored Thing (The Four Aces)
Barrett sends Browning the first love letter
Come Together (The Beatles)
Uniform federal election day established
Freebird (Lynyrd Skynyrd)
“The Raven” published in New York Evening
Mirror
Rubber Band Man (The Spinners)
UK: rubber band patented by Stephen Perry
Because He Lives (The Gaithers)
Finland: only country to have Easter Sunday
Fire (The Pointer Sisters)
Fire destroys Pittsburgh
Swing Low, Sweet Chariot (Wallace Willis)
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an
American Slave published
Mashed Potato Time (Dee Dee Sharp)
Potato blight begins famine in Ireland
America the Beautiful (Katherine Bates and Samuel Ward)
Concept of Manifest Destiny coined by John
O’Sullivan
1851: Whale Tragedy
MDCCCLI
Portland Penny coin flip: Boston loses Oregon
Losers can be winners
Australia: Black Thursday brushfires
Temptations smolder and smoke
Western Union founded
Lifelines are essential
Charles Darwin’s daughter dies: depression
Even the fittest fall
Adolf and Lionel play Immortal Game of chess
Practice strategic forethought
America wins first ever America’s Cup
A victory lane awaits
New York Times founded
Progress is newsworthy
Moby Dick published
Don’t mess with whales
Boston: First US YMCA opens
Support others
Christmas Eve, Washington DC: Library of Congress burns
Resist the eggnog
Pen sills for skewell!
“Pen sills for skewell!”
Her voice held fake excitement.
Santa got it wrong.
1865
MDCCCLXV
New York Stock Exchange opens on Wall Street
will they cancel student loan debt?
Thirteenth Amendment passes
break these chains!
Civil War ends
freedom is a relative concept
Abraham Lincoln assassinated
a shot in the dark: squeeze a turnip
Sultana sinks in the Mississippi
neck deep in the muck: IBD
young Jumbo arrives at London Zoo
neck wide in the glands:
hypothyroidism
Alice in Wonderland published
is there even a key within reach?
Wild Bill Hickok starts first western showdown
the world is going straight to hell
Brother Jonathan sinks off CA coast
yes, plummeting down the rabbit hole like Alice
SS Republic sinks off GA coast
or are we already there?
And now, 1866
MDCCCLXVI
I was 100 years away
no full moon in February
promises made, promises broken
Civil Rights Act passed and vetoed
Covid numbers rise: a dark world
total lunar eclipse
Fitz and Boo oblivious
ASPCA founded, NYC
Christmas shopping mostly done
Nickel replaces the half-dime
one count rises, another falls
Metric Act standardizes measurement
even Christmas spirit wears a mask
dynamite invented in Germany
Chris Baron, professor of English at San Diego City College and author of All of Me and The Magical Imperfect, hosted my writing group today and inspired us to write A Before Picture verse. My mother left us in December 29, 2015, and today my verse is about her.
before and now
before
we silently sucked our teeth
when she
told us to buckle up
we secretly rolled our eyes
when she
told us to lock our doors
we soundlessly steamed at the ears
when she
told us to slow down
(“they sit right up here, you know”)
and covertly clenched our fists
when she
told us to turn it down
now
we hear her voice
echoing through the years
transcending dimensions
and through our blurry tears
we buckle up
we lock up
we slow it down
we turn it down
and wish
she were here
to right our world again
Common Threads 