I gave up
making choices
in their place I put
the asking of questions
none have been answered
but then what’s a question for
if I gave you the key at the back of
the book would you tear out the pages
only to find them mimeographed
from here at the beginning
where for some reason
these words unread
form a pattern
I gave up
Tag: Poetry
-
MayPoWriMo 11
-
MayPoWriMo 10
Every day is practice
for a play that never comes
living with the presence
of without
not only the glow
of life within these cells
but the strange absence
that fills the air
causing ripples
as in the knowledge
that your face is
already known before
even you were born
that what brings you
out into the solid air
is the same breath
you take as it
evaporates to empty
nothingness is
only a concept
the body lives
ever and always
though different shapes
and remembrances
through us the same
-
MayPoWriMo 9
There was snow in May
and then the snow was all gone
didn’t even stick
Then the sun came out
and it went away again
while a chill wind blew
Then there were locusts
attacking what was left of
flowers in the yard
Then a tornado
fell through the opening of
a short volcano
Then ice caps melted
a huge river overflowed
the known universe
Then a loud bird chirped
and the cat had had enough
and closed the window
-
MayPoWriMo 8
How is your apocalypse diet working out?
I have baked a thing 703 times this week.
Did you watch that video everyone posted without fact checking first?
I have changed my sweatpants four times in two months.
Are you practicing mindfulness and abject terror?
I talked to the cat for 47 minutes before breakfast.
Can you imagine the radical change that will result from this obvious exposure of the broken and oppressive structures that align with oligarchy and keeps 99 percent of the populace tied to a tenuous debt ridden employment regime that does little to affect the status quo?
I was going to read my book today but forgot.
How long do you think this quarantine will last?
I’m no longer counting.
-
MayPoWriMo 7
Having never run
a marathon this must be
like a marathon
No one ever trained
for something like this even
though we are human
And know things go wrong
here today gone tomorrow
no second chances
So many moments
we will not be able to
relive but that is
No different from all
the other moments we live
but they do happen
Regardless of what
our best intentions may be
time runs on no time
Like the dream you had
for sure you would not forget
yet it slips away
Never to repeat
even as the same dream comes
back to revisit
The same as before
time waits in the universe
only to happen
Too soon it just stops
-
MayPoWriMo 6
We are going to announce our plan
Of course we have a plan
We have no plan because we are disbanding our planning committee to make plans
The committee to make plans was unable to make a plan because it was impeded by a previous administration’s inability to make plans
Foresight is the sole arbiter of the success of our plan
We have researched the appropriate Excel functions to show that cases will drop off immediately upon implementation of our plan
Who said we had a plan
We have always had the greatest plans despite the fact that the fake news enemy of the people says we have no plans
We have the best minds in charge of our plan
No one said our plan had to work only that we had a plan
That’s a nasty question to imply that we have no plan
We are here to celebrate the raging success of our plan
Our plan will only result in less than 2 million deaths which was always our plan
We’ve really done an incredible job with our plan
You should be saying how amazing and quickly we’ve responded with a plan
The plan was to destroy government for forty years so you would think we didn’t have a clue how to plan
We were always going to announce the existence of aliens and murder hornets as a corollary to our plan
Do you have a plan
If it’s so easy to make a plan why don’t you come up with a plan
Here is a corporate executive who planned to be here today to tell you about pillows
The plan is to gradually phase out the necessity to have a plan
The plan will be announced as soon as we have a plan
Here is the plan
We have accomplished our plan
-
MayPoWriMo 5
Which way
do we go
when “one way”
is clearly marked
and no one else
is going that way
mission accomplished
I guess
we all know what
happens next
-
MayPoWriMo 4
I would bring my students
to the sculptures where you
could see the bullet holes
I would have nothing to say
in 2003 as the thief executive
lied us into another war
except to hope that it
never happened again
that somehow the past
could be relegated to history
that the spots where students
lay dying might no longer
be prime parking places
and instead set aside
a testament to four names
a shock stricken face
rising out of the photograph
helpless at the lifeless
body of carbon and memories
prone on the pavement
calling out mute to us
over half a century ago
knowing this instant
would be repeated perhaps
with less fanfare as the decades
came strolling torrentially by
and we greeted each other with
May the fourth be with you
and sang an old man’s song—
should have been done long ago
we’re finally on our own
-
MayPoWriMo 3
Through the suddenly
open window the scent of
burning leaves rises
or else barbecue
on a night like this why not
summer still a thing
stay away from crowds
stay away and wear a mask
stay home and save lives
how to celebrate
summer in a pandemic
keep it to yourself
and share it with us
-
MayPoWriMo 2
In this new world
of remote everything
there are nothing
but societies
a system of
destructive falsehoods
perishing the thought
of corporate interregnum
it takes so much
brainwashing to build
it will take a lot more than
bleach to tear it down
just ask the homeowner
who spent a solid hour
on the quietest and brightest
afternoon of the spring
obliterating the tall grass
unaware it grows back again
heedless of our fruitless
shouting insane demands
you can hear the new
structure of feeling
slouching to be born
it just isn’t very loud yet
Joshua Keiter 