Hello and welcome to the 2020 COVID-19 Special Thanksgiving Menu-Poem. This is the nineteenth incarnation of the Thanksgiving Menu-Poem! 2020 has been a most difficult year. From political turmoil to the continuing pandemic, what is now normal is vastly different from what I think of as a normal Thanksgiving. That type of gathering may well be outdated. It is hard to tell from this vantage point, but I am hopeful next year will be a more positive time. I considered not hosting this year’s Thanksgiving Menu-Poem, to be in solidarity with the many wonderful events that have already been postponed or cancelled. However, I felt oddly compelled to keep this tradition going. So here it is, as it is. A moment of fun.

Yes, fun! I stayed indoors all spring, summer, and fall. I watched from my second story window as the cats of my neighborhood enjoy freedom in our suburban neighborhood. Since there were no humans around to frighten them away, they became content to take over everything. Cats lounged around our front yard, hunted in our backyard, stalked the sidewalks, and strolled around as if the world, finally, was all theirs. I began making collages of them and after I had several on hand, I noticed that the cats had taken over, replacing the staid everydayness of Kenmore with a dose of unrecognized realism.

It is not just the world that has changed; the very meaning of Thanksgiving has changed, too. I used to try to make poetry of things that were special for this day, but anxiety is everywhere now. And nothing is special anymore. Yet in the same moment, everything seems special. We are all afraid, leaderless. And even after the election, I still feel anxious about the climate, the political reality of now, and the dire consequences COVID has yet to demonstrate. So, what better for a 2020 COVID-19 Special Thanksgiving Menu-Poem than a lot of cats and a short, fun poem about collage?

You are right, nothing!

Well, I imagine you are asking yourselves right now, hey, wait a moment! Isn’t this whole thing supposed to be honoring a specific poet and not just some menu items set next to a poem and some cat pictures? Yes, and I apologize for this lapse. The poem does not honor a poet this year. The Thanksgiving Menu-Poem series is especially designed to expresses appreciation for a poet’s work while creating a sense of harmony that interprets my understanding of that work. But I felt it best to not bother a fellow writer while the quarantine was in place, an still continues. It seemed like I would be asking too much from a poet who would have many demands on their time, health, and mental health. And with the past eight months being what they were, I decided to make my silence my gift to that poet. I can always bother them next year, should next year actually happen :-) 

I hope you enjoy this meal, the menu and the poem. Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Rockets, Geoffrey