How do you know when
the things you used to know are
still waiting for you
across a divide
against all odds you have crossed
with uncertainty
reserved for doing
nothing and doing it well
such that you survive
having forgotten
how much you have lost losing
all your perspective
how to learn your lines
practice your musical parts
exist together
performing in the same space
No one knew which lane
they wanted their car to be
in on the highway
and I am tired of
excusing misbehavior
with pandemic or
ecological
collapse at least some of them
used their turn signals
I got off the road
went shopping for groceries
and drove to the house
which was still on solid ground
What if the summer
never actually ends
and we are left with
ever increasing
temperatures with a dash
of dust scattering
the atmosphere with
what might have been alive when
there were none of us
around to measure
how much we were to mess up
what does not belong
to us—instead view
the sunset in dead pixels
say the camera
does not do justice
I like not seeing
people’s faces in the store
a freeway where I
am not tailgated
some kind of reassurance
this is not the end
of toleration
or rational behavior
that the world might be
worth getting back to
that when you spit in the wind
someone else’s spit
does not reach you first
We will never know
if spectacular sunsets
are the result of
looking in the past
too intently to expect
particles drifting
out of horizon
to retrospect the future
haze obscures the sun
somewhere there is fire
vanishing from there to here
until immanent
the blaze outlasts us
Similar weather
three converge along the path
say good morning twice
so many alarms
ringing through the neighborhood
nobody knows why
the planes seem louder
not because it is quiet
but we can hear them
Walking to the arts
festival under a clear
blue September sky
each booth was filled with
arts unique to each other
some artists napping
at their stations while
passersby observed their work
with curious eyes
pencil strokes blown glass
enormous photographic
landscapes and doorways
miniature scales
almost too much to take in
worlds upon more worlds
we noticed also
almost directly above
airplanes were streaking
from our vantage point
we could not tell if they were
taking off or landing
Fed up with the past
harbinger of the future
rear view is side ways
this would always be
catastrophic in any
normal circumstance
enough with carrots
cluttering up the airwaves
just go with the sticks
The grass must have learned
their lesson by now—or not
they just keep growing
A year is measured
with a difference these days
how many decades
did the last month hold
how old were we when we met
older than right now
first when you are born
then the rest is history
as evidenced by
to the contrary
how little we remember
of our soon past selves
how we look forward
through a spinning carousel
still at the center
