Thanksgiving 2020 State Poet Laureate Anthology - Poems of Thankfulness - New York Times

A long-standing annual tradition of mine has been to pick up the New York Times on Thanksgiving morning - and enjoy my pre and post dinner with family casually thumbing through the whole paper, page by page.  World news, national news, politics, sports, crime -- page by page, section by section.

2020 has been a year of nightmares and broken dreams...and today's paper is full of articles about the President (of course) - articles about COVID 19 (how 260,000 of my fellow citizens have died so far) - articles about proposed potential vaccines - and tales of tragedy, courage, unemployment, and the economy moving towards depression.

But amazingly I stumbled upon a 2-page spread featuring poems about 2020 by a number of Poets Laureate representing about 20 of our States - and I was overjoyed to read poetry on Thanksgiving.  There were a number of interesting passages, so I thought why not print up an "Anthology of the Anthology" which is my way of looking at 2020 as one very bad memory, which will gradually fade away, slowly even as we all fade away.

Here's the eNOTHING compilation Anthology of the Anthology -- Coping with Thanks for your enjoyment.  Which ones resonate with you?

2020 - Anthology of the Anthology - "Coping with Thanks"

Excerpts From the New York Times National Edition, Thursday November 26, 2020 pp. A16/17 

1.

thankful for the bend

without the break

the branch beneath the weight of the

finch

for the crows

consistent in their caw

as if saying wake

the morning lies in the street 

2.

Near the end of a difficult year,

may we spot the light,

as we breathe in prayer

or supplication: Show me, 

Show me, Show me.

3.

It was the summer we took

   heads, toppled statues of despots

& slaveholders off their gleaming

   plinths; elsewhere tipped them

into the oily depths of rivers.

   It was the summer we gave thanks

for the thousand-thousand bodies

   marching in the hearts of the grieving

4.

we get a heat wave and a second chance

to put things right in the world

We feel so lucky that we smile

our biggest smiles behind our masks,

making our eyes crinkle and shine

like the elusive Northern Lights.

5.

despite my elected representatives'

best

negligence, thankful

for my Hawaiian-print face mask,

for this

red sofa I commute to for work

6.

We pray for each other

In all our heartbreaks.

We give thanks

For hope, 

For family, for dear ones, 

And neighbors

For "I love you"

Written on the red wings of cardinals

7.

Rain turning eye-salt to rivulets, 

rivulets

to rivers wheresoever many weep as

one.

Rain thrust deep in earth, seeking

seeds.

Rain taking its own sweet time.

Earth's thirst for the first rain - 

never to be cursed again.

8.

Time moves,

then moves again and forehead lines

are bar charts, flesh and bone

diagrams of courage.

9.

After Many and Much

have been taken from us

the checkout girl whose eyes smile

above her mask

your ungloved hand in mine.

10.

Grateful for old men, white and Black,

weathered as the sweet potatoes they

hawk from the beds of their pickups at

every other highway exit.

11.

Love's reaching for

each other only to find our scars

relaxed.

Inside these walls, 

we have food, 

resources, 

each other - Love and fear's first 

real test.

CREDITS:

1.    Anis Mojgani - Poet Laureate of Oregon

2.    Karen Craigo - Poet Laureate of Missouri

3.    Luisa A. Igloria - Poet Laureate of Virginia

4.    Joyce Sutphen - Poet Laureate of Minnesota

5.    Matt Mason - State Poet of Nebraska

6.    Angela Jackson - Poet Laureate of Illinois

7.    Kim Stafford - Fmr. Poet Laureate of Oregon

8.    Kari Gunter-Seymour - Poet Laureate of Ohio

9.    Kevin Stein - Fmr. Poet Laureate of Illinois

10.  Beth Ann Fennelly - Poet Laureate of Mississippi

11.  Christine Stewart-Nunez - Poet Laureate of South Dakota