Because all art is quite useless
I spend my days petting cats
Walking the neighborhood blindfolded
Smiling at everyone from a safe distance
Staring at that thing on my face in the mirror
Stretching the ends way beyond the means
Listening to guitar chords through the window
Practicing my doing nothing routine
Questioning why there isn’t universal basic income
Reading too many articles on the same thing
Watching the same TV shows because structure
Calling the people I would normally call anyway
Thinking about the people I haven’t called lately
Knowing some people aren’t okay
Believing the universe loves them anyway
Counting to ten on my fingers
Breathing to infinity for a moment
Wondering if maybe we’ll stay closed a little longer
Because we all could really use the rest
Tag: Poetry
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MayPoWriMo 21
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MayPoWriMo 20
Except for the fact that we cannot see our friends
Except for the fact that my car hasn’t needed gas since February
Except for the fact that I watched 17 webinars on wipes today
Except for the fact that no one really wants to return to normal
Except for the fact that hair and nails grow figure out how to cut them yourself
Except for the fact that two months is a very long short time
Except for the fact that numbers are irrelevant
Except for the fact that each number is a funeral that cannot happen
Except for the fact that humans can’t follow directions
Except for the fact that there still isn’t enough equipment for hospital workers
Except for the fact that bookshelves are a good background for Zoom
Except for the fact that the future is anybody’s guesstimate
Except for the fact that we are not promised a single day
Except for the fact that walks are good for you
Except for the fact that I have 217 tabs open on mobile Safari
Except for the fact that we are all alchemists of the kitchen cupboard
Except for the fact that I refuse to turn on the news
Except for the fact that we’re aging all the time
Except for the fact that this will only take a little while
Except for the fact that we must
Accept the facts
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MayPoWriMo 19
Most of my dreams these days
happen in public where
the crowds are belligerent
trash is everywhere
fast food kiosks serving
obscene concoctions
movie theaters strewn
with insufficient space
and too many patrons spitting
when the film suddenly stops
the projector makes fun of us
and does not start it again
all the rules of distancing
seem to be in place but
none of them are happening
my dreams need a new media diet
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MayPoWriMo 18
The cats spent all day
alternating chairs
in the sun room
first one would sleep
on one and the other
would sleep on the other
occasionally they would
dart down the stairs
and back up again
for no apparent reason
only to return to
the same spots
this time in the darkness
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MayPoWriMo 17
When I awoke after
everything fell apart
nothing was awake
the words still shuddered
like voices in my head
my ribcage ached
the world was spiraling
out of orbit toward the sun
a thousand deserts blooming
I was a passenger
on a lonely space vessel
the only inhabitant left
the supermarkets were filled
to overflowing with flesh
no one left to eat
the world had gone awry
only I could see it
because it was in my head
Then I awoke and nothing
could stop what was coming
the universe ending
in backwards array
like a film on a screen being
deleted with each frame
each historic catastrophe
writ large and amplified
until no one was left
one day I’ll write
a science fiction novel
about it all but not today
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MayPoWriMo 16
I cannot believe I took
such detailed journals
for so many years
and now when the days
seem to blur together
in a mush kind of rush
I can barely string together
enough words to make
a status update so instead
I settle on a poem like
the cat settles on my lap
I could stay here all night but
when I read those days again
you live in what I wrote my friend
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MayPoWriMo 15
for RLS
Today an alert on my phone which I was
clearing out for something to do
led me to a reminder that we spent
the day together five years ago today
that I wrote all about in my journal
which is a thing I used to do to have
something to do and it occurred to me
to give you a call because that is something
so many of us are trying to do it would be
perfectly natural to pick up the phone
and find you on the other end of the line
even though I know it is something
we can no longer do and in fact
it will be some time before I can visit you
to tell you about the caterpillars and
sewing machines in my memories
that come up occasionally on a day
like this day when it is too easy
to remember how much time
I’ve lived missing you
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MayPoWriMo 14
Haiku improv from DB to REM
Somewhere out in space
David Bowie is saying—
Left at the right time
The darkest timeline
might even be the brightest
just before the dawn
Huh? What in the world?
Autocorrect, you are drunk
that’s saying something
When you just wake up
and find out the world left you
right where you started
It takes a whirlwind
to knock you back on your feet
or at least sideways
I have always been
a mystery to myself
just listen to this
Can’t get there from here
when the world is a monster
been there, know the way
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MayPoWriMo 13
I trace isolation
with my fingers
in the air
as a child I counted the trees
through the car windshield
with eye blinks
stepped on the pavement
avoiding the cracks
putting maple seeds on my nose
thinking the perfect phrase
could only be measured
on appendages
making intricate symmetrical designs
with my foot over and over
until it was perfect
but only in the motion of the air
and only until my legs
reached the floor
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MayPoWriMo 12
As time moves irretrievably further
into the past
the thought halfheartedly occurs
that this is all for nought
that surely we
do not survive even the barrier
between dream and waking how
then can it be
that death shall have no dominion
are not these stones in our path
for tripping over—No
when you wake from this long slumber
you will be as you ever were written
on the fabric
of every moment you pass through
even if we do not remember and no
one will remember
you are not going to beyond
but belong
and in belonging find a home
like this one here
Joshua Keiter 