I take comfort that our carbon cousins
can take root in the smallest rock crevice
molecules packed so tightly together
even oxygen has no room to breathe
seeds seek sight unseen slightest patch of ground
reminder that left untended the world
would leave no room for anything but life
as much as we carve earth to suit our deaths
the blink that misses the river’s torrent
to forge a new prospect of the pavement
aspire to the plane of the parking lot
living as if already trod over
how much light to be as drift as the breeze
sowing consciousness where none of us sees
Category: Poems
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OctPoWriMo 1
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SeptPoWriMo 29
Hearing about species declared extinct
on a road that must disrupt habitats
if not bifurcate part of one species
from another part based on some red lines
someone thought might keep people in their place
going the other direction I heard
how democracy was lost arguing
over small details allowing tyrants
to barrel in taking advantage of
the wasteland people saw all around them
because nothing was ever accomplished
they dithered until all hope had been lost
the species songs mournfully echoing
had not been heard in over twenty years
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SeptPoWriMo 28
The thunder rolled all across this region
at some point this afternoon not sure when
but I heard it everybody heard it
and felt it the way you feel something when
you have no idea what is going on
but it fits in the basic scheme of things
as vaguely boring apocalyptic
as in the famous dog drinking coffee
with flames all around saying this is fine
which applies to every event these days
we cannot explain but shrug our shoulders
and go about our days as the rumble
increases though we know someone out there
has foresight no one else has to measure
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SeptPoWriMo 27
The echoes fade faster than they used to
hard to believe the light that hits our eyes
has been traveling for so many miles
it has lost all hope of finding a home
perhaps we are not meant to know ourselves
better than anything we might have been
if our skin were an exoskeleton
would that make standing any easier
the days are shorter and the days grow long
leaving the nights lonely for their excess
more space to dream weird unrecollected
unless of course it was always like that
light finds its way in no matter how much
we might like to think or believe it stops
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SeptPoWriMo 26
Cut off like an arm a voice distracted
those bodies spirits souls sharing spaces
singular staring at screens together
blinking to lose a year and a half blue
screens a blur existence diminished to
one dimension livelihood a living
languishing to wait to take a sort of
flight out of body those souls together
united in wearing a slight fabric
to watch out for their neighbor laboring
for breath to reach another note singing
together by twos distance abating
to live theatre means being alive
halfway to sideways from the other side
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SeptPoWriMo 25
How long until things get back to normal
turns out it has been normal all along
whenever two or more of you gather
no one goes through this alone together
the world as we know it might not be here
in this most confusing phase of this phase
problem is the problem can’t be defined
too much evidence to the contrary
the two exit lanes are closed to traffic
because there is too much traffic around
gridlock is all there is to sustain us
the bill won’t be passed because of reasons
if food be music we have been starving
the world is burning while it goes dancing
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SeptHaikuWriMo 24
A surprise to find
accumulation of cells
printed on paper
inspire such response
the future unexpected
collected to see
here we are waiting
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SeptPoWriMo 23
Feeling we are in a holding pattern
circling over the distant recent past
hoping it never happened at least not
as we experienced it at the time
each trauma atrocity diminished
by having seen it endless times before
the definition of insanity
anticipating something different
waiting out the clock to backtrack into
the same a better future never seen
willfully distracted to forgetting
we are born each second we are alive
how to start again knowing how it ends
how to forget the moment it begins
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SeptPoWriMo 22
Remembering where we were the last time
they said the worst was behind us is not
an impossible task more like the worst
case scenario already having
come to pass with a more rueful laughter
why do they tempt fate with self fulfilling
headlines more likely to be proven wrong
with the next news cycle breaking a chain
surely we have not reached the debt ceiling
of deworming paste outpacing common
sense does anybody really believe
we are out of the woods overgrowing
us waiting for good news that never comes
there is still so much weeding to be done
Joshua Keiter 