My dad died from COVID-19 on December 3rd.

I wrote this spoken word for my Secret Mixter assignment. Thank you to 7OOP3D for providing the musical space for me to feel some things that needed felt and released. Music is cathartic.


WORDS

These severed roots
Leave a broken heart
To make sense of this world
With a haunted mind

Alone
Confused
Shivering
Deteriorating
Swirling in a morphine dream world
Still connected to a body that is
Unable to breathe a full breath
Still connected to a physical form
Starving and shutting down

I cannot reconcile my sadness
Tears for one and a half million deceased
Whose bodies became the casualty
Of our collective failure
To prepare
To believe
To sacrifice
To lead

And this anger, searing rage
This nightmare tugs at my sleeve
Remembering a heart
As it beat arrhythmically
Quivering uselessly
Unable to pump the blood
Her body needs
Left as a memory
Fading in the minds
Most can only mourn
For a little bit of time

Severed roots
Haunted mind
Could have
Should have
Didn’t have time
Severed roots
Haunted mind
Could have
Should have
Didn’t have time

These severed roots
Leave a broken
To make sense of this world
With a haunted mind