You question me when I say that all loss is permanent and temporary. How can that be, you say when I can’t even remember what I ate on this day in 1983, or the color of her hair when she turned 102. Without flinching I reply without saying a word or sparing an empty platitude, that all loss isn’t even loss, that every moment, every seed, every blade of grass is imprinted on eternity, even what some might refer to as the ultimate I Am. Existence, you say, is finite. Even if the globe should fall heroically and unequivocally into the sun, and a disembodied voice intones emphatically, NO HEAVEN FOR YOU, certainly all things must pass. You remain silent as I reply, just because everything slips away doesn’t mean it doesn’t return to where it came from. That’s how it is, after all with you and me and me and you, one two, one two.
Tag: Poetry
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First Things First
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Theatre People
Flying a French flag porch covered in construction debris, we arrive barely off script, ready to eat teenager baked goods in exchange for the camaraderie of theatre people— the family we choose.
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Mum-Mum at 103
It took Mum-Mum three tries to blow out her birthday candles in this her 103rd year “Oh now I won’t get my wish” she said She held her great-granddaughter and didn’t blink as the baby spit up on her shirt which already had a stain “Well at least I wore the perfect shirt” she said Later we all took pictures of her surrounded by each member of the family She squinted as if she didn’t know where to look. My mother said she must have been looking for a camera.
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Pack a Small Bag
What’s in yours? In mine there’s an object for every year of my life that I anticipate happening again once I have the time and the trick is this time when the scars are about to happen I’ll be prepared. So for instance that note you passed along the table at the cast party I would already know what was written on it and I would hold onto it As if I knew what to do and where to go instead of fumbling around on a turntable listening to Cat Stevens think he actually saw the light
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Turns Out
You know that career you always said you were meant for? Turns out you weren’t. You know that trickle of water that falls from the faucet & interrupts your dreams on an hourly basis? Turns out no one can fix it. You remember that time in your life when everything was evergreen & evanescent and you knew it wouldn’t last forever? Turns out you were right. You know that viral video going around the internet that everyone linked to in self-righteousness and indignation? Turns out no one watched it. And the incident just keeps happening over & over Just like that. Huh. Turns out.
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Welsh Troll
Give up this business this shilly-shally of art You have no right to look in the mirror at exactly this instant what do you get when you continue a lifetime’s worth of regrets & worthless I don’t have to tell you the answer begins with why and ends with who Do you think I’m talking to you? How dare you bring this plate of fried chicken to this vegan unsanctioned potluck? Or was that just the beard you apparently think you can grow and then shave off like no one noticed? When all the time they saw it happening
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Find Your Duck
It’s always something if it’s not something else keep yourself to yourself and it will all turn out sideways not to forego comeuppance for the sake of habitual reticence Is that all there is? A lot of false starts and a whole bunch of nonsense words creeping into my everyday vocabulary like they were meant to be there? I insist on a recount You know, a do over Start this one fresh Right now I mean Right now. Please start over. Take it back. Is that all there is?
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As You Do
Reminds me of a soft shoe on the moon. Like how everything happens in the last seconds. While you weren’t looking. We’ll always have yesterday. Things were much clearer when we were young. Don’t you agree now that you’re older? We won’t be this way forever. So hold on fast to your breathing. It’s the only thing keeping me together. And it’s only drifting away. Except for the ones I keep. But they’re only temporary anyway. Did you answer the question I’m afraid to ask? It’s only you and me here I’m afraid. Hold my life. I’m crying all the time now. There’s nothing left but to be born.
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Watch Your Six
If you keep turning around everything in front of you will be behind There’s no time like the present you remember when you started reading this poem? Yeah, that’s over with. If it made any difference this is over too. You might say it never ends But you’d be wrong as usual There is no end and in my end is my beginning Stuck in the middle with you.
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Keep Moving, Get Out of the Way
Let this be an admonition that you never have to hear Never mind t-shirt slogans with their inadequate silkscreen or bumper sticker theophilandering By the time you get this message it will self destruct in five minutes And then what will be left but the seconds you stood in line as your groceries accumulated at the bottom of a cart waiting for you to collect them in a bag you should have remembered to bring. Any cash back? Hell no. Face front. Keep moving and get out of the way. There. Just like I told you. Let me put that phone away for you. I’ve got nowhere else to be anyway. I’ve always been here and here I will stay. Plastic or paper?
Joshua Keiter 