Becoming: Poems of Pandemic, Protest, Prayer, and More (Paperback or Softback)

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.

Colleen Adele Kelly, PhD, is a retired educator of Asian and international studies and comparative education who taught in Fairfield and New Britain, Connecticut. She has used her time in retirement to indulge a lifelong attraction to hearing and seeing events in verse. Her experiences in travel and teaching inform what she writes.
Becoming is her sixth collection of poems. She maintains a poetry blog at www.colleenakelly.com.