Goodbye 2021 - Fran Carbonaro

[Larry Robinson]

Goodbye 2021


I can go years without breaking anything
Yesterday, a new white bowl slipped out of my hand
Gone.  This Christmas Day there were no illusions.

Today, Kwanza begins and my purple neti pot
Followed her, that perfect sphere of containment,
Am I practicing letting things slip away?

I have a replacement for the cleansing pot:
Alan bought it for me years ago, after we met
Seeing how attached I was to the ritual.

As I care for him now in so many ways
His care for me then is translating itself 
Into a continuity that will go on, long after.

This year brought so much we could have all
Done without.  Surge after surge of the virus
In all its variations, dangerous attempts at normality,

Treasonous attempts to the shaky ground we thought
We stood on.  Ice melting faster and faster, wind
Whipping into death cones, while those who can

Slow this all down, don’t do enough.  Where is the deep
Breath without the wail that follows?  There is no relief here.
I am not ready to say goodbye to my beloved

Even as I acknowledge the inevitable.  The many losses
That we carry in our hearts, personally and globally,
Have carved a space for what’s to come, the known

And the unknown.  Small acts of kindness.  This is it.
The platinum rule, not the golden one:  Treat others
As they want to be treated.  Bring it on, 2022

	- Fran Carbonaro