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Jan. 1 - 14, 2021 43
American Life in Poetry: Column 823 BY TED KOOSER,
U.S. POET LAUREATE, 2004-2006
Time to clean out a closet and make room for whatever 2021 will bring us! I hope every one of you has a new year that’s much better and happier than the one we’re all shoving behind. This is the last column I’ll have a part in, and I’ve written a little goodbye poem for you. Happy New Year! A Donation of Shoes They’re on their way to Goodwill in Destiny’s old cardboard carton, the flaps folded inside, lending its scuffed shoulders a look of authority, the box knowing the route, the shoes badly lost and confused, their toes starting in every direction at once, clambering over each other, laces entangled—wingtip, slip-on, workboot and sneaker—every pair trying to get one last, lingering look at the closet before settling down into their smell. What’s the saddest about this is seeing those insoles floating up naked, pale flounders beat flat and then dried, no longer to swim through the ocean of days, led on by plump dolphins of feet. American Life in Poetry provides newspapers and online publications with a free weekly column featuring contemporary American poems. The sole mission of this project is to promote poetry: American Life in Poetry seeks to create a vigorous presence for poetry in our culture. There are no costs for reprinting the columns; we do require that you register your publication here and that the text of the column be reproduced without alteration.
Corner Quote “We need not lose hope. We just need to locate where it dwells.” – Terry Tempest Williams, “Erosion”
BIG SKY
BEATS 2020 streaming trends BY GABRIELLE GASSER
Last year was strange. Now at the outset of 2021, 2020 is in our rearview mirror and we are able to reflect on the tumultuous year in its entirety. While last year was loaded with challenges, certain things stayed the same, like music. Our favorite artists still created and released albums, and music was a constant companion for many in their home offices. Spotify, the music streaming giant, synthesized 2020 with their “2020 Wrapped” metrics, which reveal the trends that shaped streaming for the year. During a time when many people switched to working from home, 2020 saw an uptick in nostalgia-themed work-from-home playlists, according to Spotify. The top artist from 2020 was Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny who claimed the top spot with more than 8.3 billion streams from around the globe. Bad Bunny’s album “YHLQMDLG,” which was released in late February of 2020, was the number one PHOTO COURTESY OF SPOTIFY streamed album of the year with 3.3 billion streams, according to Spotify. The album included 20 songs featuring collaborations with Sech, Anuel AA, and Daddy Yankee. Finally, the most streamed song of the year, according to Spotify, was The Weekend’s “Blinding Lights” with a whopping 1.6 billion streams.
