reader, writer, actor, singer, teacher
V
I had a vision
even before
they put them down
we would meet
again
as humanoids
or whatever
form
we will take
when we leave
the earth
in this vision
they recognize me first
perhaps in passing
we embrace
while one of us
says we loved
each other
and the other
perhaps without
consciously
saying it
says, I know
I know
I know
Windows open for
the first time in I don’t know
how long was it that
we were unable
to breathe without believing
the air was toxic
night sounds are so loud
have they always been this way
or were they waiting
for a reluctant
retreat turning the seasons
into something that
just happened somehow
we forgot we were supposed
to change who we are
now we must predict
the same thing happens again
when we all burn out
sound will outlive us
whether we keep the windows
open or inside
will we be there to hear it
I risked waking up
a sleeping child today when
the window showed me
a creature without
human accompaniment
and then another
I saw they were deer
through the steam and window shade
trudging thru the yard
and into the road
a car put its blinkers on
as they galloped down
the hill escaping
the frame of my camera
I fell back amazed
to my seat the child
remarkably stayed asleep
and slept a bit more
Why not pretend a
century within our grasp
did you figure that
you’d wake up knowing
world lost what you always knew
it could might have been
why do we live like
things will always stay the same
even different
we struggle to see
our lives lost to strands of time
stretching infinite
until they are not
Already I feel
the weight of days passing by
without a second
thoughts I might have had
were it not for radiant
change within our cells
how does the body
keep happening in this way?
how does the descent
let us forget not
without incident only
this face staring back
I would not be here
without this tense this presence
the future better
having you with us in it
Not sure if we’ve broken past the breaking
point of no return random papers strewn
on gaudy carpet not declassified
except by an edict after the fact
no one recognized the face of time framed
for boxes to coexist within made
impermanent the glimmer of hope felt
polls too temporary to be trusted
in this rust belt cafe the crudité
was never really on the menu though
that’s before you consider the tequila
why not take less of what they are drinking
fascists qualified by prefix semi
could a new era happen already?
Time to record
one of those dreams again
this time the three month old
started speaking not only
in perfect sentences
but with advanced vocabulary
far beyond my ken
to recreate at this late date
and when the baby spoke
it was obvious in
an extraordinary way
the participants in the dream
just kept on dreaming
meanwhile later this morning
I spoke the words I love you
to the three month old
with such conviction
and variation of voice
so as to encourage development
of brain function
far beyond my ken
the baby recreated the syllables
as if knowing precisely
the intended meaning
and how far beyond it reaches
such that there is no question
when asked we should speak
knowing far beyond our ken
the words within our reach
That feeling when you realize
the music that formed you
in your formative years was
nearly some forty years ago now
thanks to hours of some songs
played on a radio not in your town
but in your former hometown
which formed you and you haven’t found
a fitting replacement you make sure
your phone is still streaming said
music as you walk in the door and dance
with your almost four month old
hold me now in your eyes hands and feet
the light the heat I am complete
If nothing else
so far
at least our child
is comfortable
saying
whatever comes to mind
while staring
in wonder
at the trees going by
To think that these pictures
capture the same creature
sleeping in the other room
at a recent previously
appointed point in time
aging apparently at the same rate
as these tired maybe middle aged
faces growing younger all the time
a match for that slight inflection
the world not quite as it was
when you arrived even better
now we know how much improved
it will be having you in it
evidence our souls met your spirit
Joshua Keiter