Year-End Sonnet

Image: Detail from Dali's Alice in Wonderland Who Stole the Tarts

It’s the end of 2020 & my sloth knows no bounds 

& I am fortunate to work at home & have a home 

to work in. It’s the end of the plague year, not the end

of the plague, & I’ve seen America balls-out naked,

can’t unsee it now: the greed & self-centeredness. 

It’s where we found ourselves, my daughter said 

on the phone today. And to our great good fortune, 

I replied. It’s the end of 2020, & both can be true 

at once. We can love what is great about the place 

while despising its brutality. My sloth will soon 

be getting a kick in the ass once work resumes. 

My sloth will slither out like the year we didn’t want; 

together they can binge-watch a brighter time 

from their spot below the bleachers, like in Heathers.