What age are we in?
Is it going faster yet?
Will there be bagels?
Have we passed the point?
Are we turning the corner?
Reached the pinochle?
What can we do now?
Why are these fireworks a thing?
A much bigger thing?
Have you been outdoors?
Is it hotter or just me?
Climate change still on?
Has it been a blip?
A sharp turn out of nowhere?
A realignment?
Renegotiate?
Are monuments still falling?
People in the street?
Seems quiet out here?
No one knows what happens next?
There isn’t a plan?
Are you kidding me?
Tag: Haiku
-
JuneHaikuWriMo 22
-
JuneHaikuWriMo 21
We can figure out
each other’s stories by just
our proximity
when that is taken
out of the equation we
use other aspects
to rationalize
our artificial distance
but that’s all it is
we are all part of
each other’s stories even
the part where we drop
just barely out of the frame
-
JuneHaikuWriMo 20
It should take more than
a ramp or glass of water
to be president
yet we’re where we are
and we keep getting stuck in
empty arenas
being told they’re full
but yawns and threat of disease
can’t keep us away
this shitshow makes good TV
-
JuneHaikuWriMo 19
History happened
even if you haven’t heard
there’s still time to learn
You might benefit
unknown unseen unstated
from your ignorance
That is no excuse
for avoiding this judgment—
As James Baldwin said:
Most people are not
in action worth very much
yet every human
unprecedented
is a miracle—treat them
as such but protect
against disasters
they all incontestably,
alas, have become
-
JuneHaikuWriMo 18
Reading words I wrote
just over a year ago
reminds me of time
not moving forward
but bending over backward
to say I’m not done—
things still to forget
even articulated
memorialized
carved into a stone
you haven’t visited—yet
waits for you alone
whispering in the darkness
-
JuneHaikuWriMo 16
Not ready to trust
humans to do the right thing
indoors or outdoors
while the numbers keep
creeping up a steady slope
I watch the pixels
accumulate as
the days turn into routine
a strange new normal
more strange than normal
but not so much that I feel
safe to trust again
just wear a damn mask
and don’t creep up behind me
waiting to buy milk
like we’re the last ones alive
-
JuneHaikuWriMo 13
Underestimate
the power of spoken word
at your own peril
These faces onscreen
demand to be heard—justice
won’t take a back seat
while voice gives life to breathing
-
JuneHaikuWriMo 12
We are not promised
a single day—not one—but
in the days we have
we should try to be
at least better than we were
in the days before
-
JuneHaikuWriMo 11
The books may arrive
before the storm does its work
but what’s done is done
the damage is real
though it might be symbolic
when statues and flags
topple while others stand still
Joshua Keiter 