Performance poet Dee Allen, swirling around five words, takes us on a whirlwind recap of 2020 and conjures some hopes for 2021.

FIVE WORD CHALLENGE

This year 2020
Left us rushing
Toward apocalypse
With multiple causes
Unseen vapouriser of billions
Coronavirus leading the charge—
Humanity travelling on slalom course of ice
To the end most disbelieved

Some wildfires here,
Some super storms there,
Tail end of tyrannical
American rule right in the middle—

Gone is the schadenfreude*
Spewing from orange face,
Repeated by loyal
Flag-waving, red cap bigot followers

And here’s to hoping

Gone will be our increasing isolation,
Our lockdown situation—
Vaccines are appearing, pharmaceutical lab
Works-in-progress—
I’ll trust one
When the new vice president 
Herself takes a needle shot—
 
W: 12.14.2020

©Dee Allen – 2021

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Dee Allen is an African-Italian performance poet based in Oakland, California. Active on the creative writing & Spoken Word tips since the early 1990s. With 35 anthology appearances [including Your Golden Sun Still Shines, Rise, Extreme, The Land Lives Forever, Civil Liberties United, Trees In A Garden Of Ashes, Colossus: Home and new from Chicago-based MuseWrite Press, Impact] under his figurative belt so far, he is also the author of five books, which can be found via the links below.

BONEYARD [ 2010 ] >  Dee Allen (poormag.info)[Book is currently out of print.]
UNWRITTEN LAW [ 2012 & 2020 ] >  Dee Allen (poormag.info)   [2012 edition is out of print.]  and   UNWRITTEN LAW: POEMS [ 1994–2011 ] | poorpressprensapobre[2020 edition.]
STORMWATER  [2017] >  Storm Water | poorpressprensapobre and   Stormwater – Poetry by Dee Allen | flapperpress
SKELETAL BLACK [2019] >  Skeletal Black | poorpressprensapobre and  Skeletal Black – Poetry by Dee Allen | flapperpress
ELOHI UNITSI [2020] >  Elohi Unitsi: Poems [2013 – 2018] (conviction2change.com)

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For the first 100 days of the Biden administration, this website will feature a new poem of What’s Next!? These pieces can be calls to action, calls to attention, or calls to anger. They will light the way and guide the fight. They will get us moving and keep our momentum. They will be filled with hope, with anger, with sorrow. They will get us into good trouble and point out the trouble we need to stop. They will be polished gems, or rough-cut drafts of rage, or in-process pieces searching for peace. They may be haiku or tanka, limericks or lyrics, verses free or fettered.

#100Days100Poems of What’s Next!? wants your poems, your prose, your visual art (photos, drawings, sculptures), your music, your short films and animations. Interpret the theme as broadly as you’d like.

If you would like to submit to this endeavor, please send an email, with your visual art (as .jpg or .pdf) or your poem saved as a word document (.docx) to waxyandpoetic AT gmail DOT com. Include a short bio (2-3 sentences) and social media/website information. All rights remain with the author. Please address any formatting preferences in your email. Waxyandpoetic.com will post submissions time permitting, with at least one per day beginning 20 January 2021. Read, follow, share, submit, live, love, spread light! Don’t forget to use #100Days100Poems !