Putting away the season
in boxes that are bound
at some point not to fit
started a day of house tasks
fastened cabinet doors
rearranged closets
attempted affixing pictures
to blank walls avoiding
the glow of tiny screens
depicting superheroes in
incoherent stories
seven thousand years
same chaos as seven days
rewinding constantly
starting over over again
At the Wegmans there was a line
preventing entry into the front door
it took some shuffling around
in my double mask to get
to the paper product aisle but there
I was unimpeded able to stock up
on all the disposable tree waste
I easily spent weeks wondering how
to acquire at the beginning of this
shitshow apparently some people
in the middle of the country not here
still don’t trust science enough
to believe they should take the life
protecting shot in the arm thinking
their own googleable research somehow
supersedes every authoritative measure
it might be easier to ignore them
if they would stop commenting
in long disposable paragraphs
you have to scroll past just to exist
where’s the snooze button for society
Hard to argue with the fact
that everywhere you look
those in charge of interpreting
how to interpret the rules
cavalierly allow the most
collateral damage which almost
certainly guarantees a massive loss
of life or agency resulting in
most people wondering how
they are to thrive in an environment
where their existence is taken
not only into question but for
granted have you considered
the virus or voting rights is just
meant to teach us a lesson
and like every other moral system
since time memorial codified
into books or national holidays
everyone keeps willfully ignoring it
because it is easier to go on
pretending the problem is not ours
to solve by making it insolvent
bankrupt exhausted demoralized
working in a system that cannot
handle the strain it is asked to shoulder
Keep it clean
lose the drama
take your parts
stay in favor
Morning what is this
unexpected fluttering
felt on the surface
a new sensation
no longer subliminal
what hands are made for
When it’s easy to exist
and hard to live
remember what was
still is
in the place where you
have yet to grow
the field is soaked
after the rain
the barest trees begin
to blossom
so small you can
see it
Already lost track
of the days I was counting
on losing—practice
for when the days are
inherently lost to grief
anniversaries
we spend all day long
forgetting to celebrate
how many losses
can we hold before
we pass averting our eyes
the hallways too long
the faces too familiar
I’ll always associate
David Bowie’s death
with looking up
into the night sky
and a field full of stars
thinking they were souls
departed and glowing
like snow at the end
of the VHS tape
down in space
it’s always 1982
when I looked up again
the sky was black
the stars still there
invisible breath promise
be kind rewind
we should be on by now
All of winter fell
in the span of just one week
what did you expect
we have been so sparse
might as well accumulate
while no one’s looking
Feeling of evil
descending like
a building
encroaching into
darkness smoke
evidence of flame
foot against a door
praying it would
not break in
by the grace of
it didn’t—now
speech in the hall
says without naming
who should be
removed from thoughts
building the same
feeling unfounded
defeated former lost
Joshua Keiter