Our human capital stock is ready to go back to work
Our human sacrificial virgin is ready to ascend the volcano
Our human critical thought is ready to be persuaded in 256 characters
Our human sound bites are ready to be expurgated from the record
Our human physical faces are ready to wear a mask already
Our human education facilitators are ready to do whatever their associate vice assistant to the dean says
Our human essential workforce is ready for a break from your entitled outbursts FFS
Our human content creators are ready to go viral for exposure
Our human respiratory system is ready to get choked by droplets and knees
Tag: Poetry
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MayPoWriMo 26
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MayPoWriMo 25
I cannot remember the stories
that should be memorialized today
because they were not told to me
However I hold in place of
an experience too horrific to verbalize
the firmest handshake anyone has given
It was a way of saying if gestures
could tell the stories of a lifetime
I survived what they put us through
Now you’re alive here before me
and this is the most important thing
I can ever do to remind you
the things I will not recall to say
they cannot take everything away
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MayPoWriMo 23
These days
it’s getting harder
as if
it wasn’t already
nearly
impossible to tell
real life
from a dream or
a long
forgotten past so
vivid
it still tastes raw
like layers
of an onion coming
apart
until you don’t know what
is still
good enough to eat
but with
just barely the tiniest bit of
pruning
so much in fact the scars
still show
anything you have to offer is
enough
is good is here is home
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MayPoWriMo 22
Webinar Survey
I fear returning
to work
before democracy
itself
runs out of time
and breath
and we are bereaved
left
to face our neighbors
not all yet
knowing they would
spit on us
just because they
could
and graffitied vans
emblazoned
with ‘don’t believe the virus’
and ‘hoax’
drive off to places
unknown
spreading their germs
before we
get a chance to cross
the street
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MayPoWriMo 21
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
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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
Joshua Keiter 