2020 In A Mirror
It was March, it was December
It’s very hard to remember
Me arguing like an ambulance siren
My sister roaring like a lion
Noises mix Boom, Clash, no and yes
Mom loses temper less and less
Getting kicked off Zoom
I won’t come out of my room
There is something squishy in my bed
Me rereading books I’ve already read
My blanket’s as hard as a rock
My door won’t unlock
Whoosh, the school year went by so fast
Trying to get it in the past
Me in class swaddled up like a baby
I need to get up to stretch daily
2020 is over, now let’s have a good happy new year
Let’s not put 2020 in a mirror
by Ellie Fowkes, age 11
Editor’s Note: The easy (and somewhat cheerful) rhyme and meter of this poem is juxtaposed upon difficult and sometimes disturbing images, creating a dissonance that perfectly encapsulates the trauma of the past year.
[Dear teachers: If any your of students writes a particularly good poem, I am open to publishing it, with permission of the parents.]
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