December 2020
Penelope Moffet
penstemon1@gmail.com
penstemon1@gmail.com
Bio Note: When I started writing "Beautiful Day" the Sunday before the election, the number of
American dead from Covid-19 was at about 230,000. As I type this note, 6 days later, it's at 237,000 and rising.
I am grateful to be alive and healthy, I am grateful that the madman in the White House is about to be kicked
out, and I am grateful to my poetry communities, including Verse-Virtual. Thank you also to Ruth Bavetta for
providing the prompt that spurred this poem last Sunday.
Beautiful Day
Thank you to the fruit fly
that tried repeatedly
to kiss me when
I sat down at this desk.
Thank you to the cat
who tried to upchuck
in my slippers
while I watched
“A Beautiful Day
in the Neighborhood”
last night. Thank you
to the motorcycle
roaring up the street
each afternoon
unmufflered
and the maskless
smokers on the corner.
It’s a beautiful day
in my neighborhood
despite the 230,000
Americans dead
in 8 months because
the President cares only
for himself. Thank you
to the maples and the sycamores,
the pepper trees and palms
I see each time I walk
the better neighborhood
next to mine. Thank you
to the metropolis
of finches chirping
as they flit through
a magnolia tree’s
leaves at dusk.
Thank you
to the ventilator
I hope never to be
tethered to and thank you
to the brave ones who
would do the tethering.
Thank you to my legs
which take me
where I want to go
for now.
©2020 Penelope Moffet
Editor's Note: If this poem(s) moves you please consider writing to the
author (email address above) to tell him or her. You might say what it is about the poem that moves you. Writing to the author is the beginning of community at Verse Virtual.
It is very important. -JL