Reflections on 2020

2021 7th & 8th Grade Poetry Winner

2020 was a raggedy quilt
stitched from the plastic of tents,
which held the infected when hospitals overflowed
like a dam breaking,
sprawling across bright green grass:
a heartbreaking contrast of life and death.
2020 was the vacuum of sound
from the hum of the ventilators our hospitals lacked
from the emptiness when hearts
ceased to beat
all we could hear
was the ominous soundtrack of the ticking of a clock
counting the nine minutes and twenty-nine seconds
which changed the world.
2020 was a wildfire,
consuming all in its path
and killing millions.
2020 was the loneliness of isolation
While the world went up in flames
right on our doorstep,
flames which bled into January 6th, 2021
consuming the last
of our nation’s hope.
How much longer
before the smoke chokes out our will to breathe?