Becoming: Poems of Pandemic, Protest, Prayer, and More

By Colleen Adele Kelly

America and me. Both getting older,
But still becoming. Never perfect,
Always striving to become, to be
A better version of what you see.
You, beholder, may emphasize the flaws.
I ask you pause, focus on the aim,
What we desire to become; to be
Perfection is a goal, not a reality.

During 2020, the United States of America was ravaged not just by a global pandemic but also by mass protests and tense elections. As death haunted the year, one tragedy after the other hung over the land like a dark shadow.

In a collection of poems penned during this tumultuous time in history, Colleen Adele Kelly shares reflections that vividly explore the emotions that surrounded lockdown, fears, losses, and gains as a country struggled to endure through each challenge. Divided into six parts, Kelly’s poems lyrically detail the protests, seasons and prayer, the pandemic purge, the elections, and the resurgence of hope as the nation began its recovery from a novel virus and year.

Becoming shares poems that address the challenges of a century with heartfelt and incisive insight and elements of prayer and wit.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Archway Publishing
• Release date: Aug 4, 2021
• ISBN: 9781665707749

Colleen Adele Kelly

Colleen Adele Kelly, Ph.D. is a retired teacher of Asian, International Studies and Comparative Education, who taught in Fairfield, Connecticut. She was also an adjunct professor at Central Connecticut State University. Dr. Kelly received two Fulbright grants to India and was a Pier Fellow at Yale University in both Asian and International Studies. She also worked on several projects with the Asia Society. Colleen has lectured widely on India. China, Russia, and the Middle East. She is an active member of Sacred Heart Church in Southbury, Connecticut. Since childhood she has indulged her inclination to memorialize special events with poems. Dr. Kelly is the author of an intellectual biography of Welthy Honsinger Fisher, and with M. Foster Farley Indian Summer. Since retiring she has published seven volumes of poetry; As I Was Saying, I’ve Been Thinking, Observations, Dancing for Joy and Sing a New Song. Her last collection of poems was Becoming, Poems of Pandemic, Protest, Prayer and More. This latest volume, Rejoice, is a celebration of endings and beginnings, seasons, political events, beliefs, and humanity. She lives in in Southbury, Connecticut and is an active member of Delta Kappa Gamma, Gamma Alpha, NYSO.

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Copyright © 2021 Colleen Adele Kelly.

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This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author and the publisher make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy

of the information contained in this book and in some cases, names of people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.

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and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

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Interior Image Credit: Photographs by the author

ISBN: 978-1-6657-0775-6 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-6657-0776-3 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-6657-0774-9 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2021911046

Archway Publishing rev. date: 08/03/2021

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This work is dedicated to all those throughout the world whose lives have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and the pandemic of violence, especially in pursuit of human rights. I also acknowledge Msgr. Joseph T. Donnelly, whose creative adaptations have kept the parishioners of Sacred Heart safe, connected, and united in prayer.

Table of Contents

Preface

Protest, Pandemic, and More

Part 1: Pandemic, Focus on Protests

Part 2: Seasons and Prayer

Part 3: Pandemic Purge

Part 4: Questions, Reflections

Part 5: Elections, Losses, Gains

Part 6: Year’s End, Hope Again

Preface

The year of 2020–2021 has been unforgettable and Job-like. This small volume of poems represents my journaling and response to the many events that have occurred. Not every topic has received equal treatment, but I trust that each topic elicits empathy or at the least understanding. The theme throughout hinges on the pandemic, the protests, politics, and prayer. Death haunts the year: the deaths of George Floyd and so many others—victims, martyrs, heroes—who became a turning point; the ever-increasing death by neglect due to the lack of a coordinated response to our time’s plague; and the death of normality. By titling this work Becoming, I invite you to join my hermetical journey, perhaps in some ways similar to your own, with an often prayerful, occasionally playful turn of phrase.

The majority of the sources for my thoughts and reflections came from the news each day. One day’s events were magnified by the next, or eclipsed by an even greater tragedy. Other musings have sprung from the daily lectionary, from nature, from art, or from the many books read during the time provided by the unexpected leisure of isolation. This has indeed been a year like no other. The primary events have been the COVID-19 pandemic, the death of George Floyd and the subsequent mass protests, the political responses or lack of response, and the elections. The loss of titans among our leaders and anniversaries within my own memory have contributed to the More within my title. Attending Mass, for the most part virtually, has allowed me a revisiting of especially striking homilies and readings. All these are overlaid upon the recurring calendar of holidays, holy days, and nature’s recurring cycle.

Protest, Pandemic, and More

A year like no other, I say,

And in my lifetime, that’s probably true.

What escapes my view just now

Are the eons passed long before.

Imagine that when the poor dinosaurs

Met the large asteroid they could not avoid,

They were more than slightly annoyed.

Yet it’s true as I said, though multiple

Mammals no longer exist, as cycles

Persist of extinction for many.

The viruses viral prevail no avail

That we wish them away. No protest,

No demonstration, no election has automatic

Protection from pathogens novel

Without cooperation of all.

We cannot exempt ’cause we’re tired,

Bored, or broke; we mingle as woke

(Not sure what it means), though I’d claim

To have been wide-awake over

Two-thirds of life. The strife that

Surrounds us should force us together,

Not apart, for stranger or friend,

We all share a common goal to survive

And thrive if we may. Only open the way

For all peoples to flourish, be nourished

By every means.

My journal of poems is then a record

Of reflection on protest, pandemic,

And more, presidential election, prayer,

People lost, selected, elected,

Past and present. Read along and remember.

What have we been; what will we become?

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Part 1: Pandemic, Focus on Protests

Becoming

A Most Unusual Year

George

Breath of Life; I Can’t Breathe

One in Thousands

What’s Wrong with Us?

Being Black

The World Is Upside Down

Shared World

Choices: Ego or Not to Go

A Caution

Micro, Macro

Exclusion, Inclusion

Becoming

America and me. Both getting older,

But