1/01/2021

Haiku Review of 2020 (Part 4 and Last): Live Forever

Last round for 2020 in this year's haiku spectacular. Big thanks to the oh-so-many of you who sent in great little poems. This year, there were haiku from Europe, Asia, and North and South America. That's pretty damn cool. 

Let's give the year past the finger and turn our weary eyes to the hope that 2021 may be the first year to suck less than the previous one in quite some time. 

From El-Man in New Zealand
Hooray, he's leaving
Kamala, pass me the mop
This will take a while

From Sel in Jacksonville, Florida
If I had no couth 
I would piss on the snarling
masses of morons

From papadoo52 in Pennsylvania
The Rally
Trump cult gathers tight
Shit pours from Trump's anus mouth
Trump cult laps it up

From Becky in Chicago
Me before all you
That's not how a nation thinks 
I hate this country 

From JM in Chicago
2020: The
Year The Sirens Never Stopped
In My Neighborhood

From Jeff in Chapel Hill, North Carolina
We may never know
If our president is sane
Hope we never learn

From James in Minneapolis
Say his name: George Floyd
His last words were ‘I can’t breathe’
All cops are bastards

From Kevin in North Minneapolis
News Happens Here
My city on fire
Black man under a white knee
Will we ever learn?

From Skye in England
This year caught our breath
Jammed like a knee on the neck
Alone together

From Ruth Ann in Madison, Wisconsin
Sports/Democracy/Same?
Bubble confinement
Kneeling for America
Masked on the sidelines

From Fortune in Honduras
Calls Us A Shit Hole?
Fuck You To Hell, Rank Shit Stain,
And Your Failed Shit State

From Amanda in West Virginia
Mitch McConnell is
Worst hidden Reptilian
Velociraptor

From Opus 131
One day closer to
The end of the pandemic
My mantra each night

From Paul in Fairfax, Virginia
Three Deaths
Martha died in March,
Mr. Dec in September,
Ralph in December.

(From Paul: Martha was my 27-year-old neighbor who killed herself just as the pandemic was starting to spread; Mr. Dec my older, other neighbor who watched me grow up and died of an abdominal cancer; and Ralph my friend of 30+ years who passed away of colon cancer at the age of 64.)

The title comes from Bartee Strange's weird and wonderful album from 2020. Do yourself a favor and check it out.