The providence of coincidence when
making connections at a shared event
not enough to say that it’s a small world
we already knew that butterfly caused
the heat dome enveloping continents
billionaires shooting themselves into space
(regrettably still encased by a ship)
ultimately negates correlation
each soul inhabited by the others
we may be fortunate enough to meet
when least expected which we may expect
if we happen to arrive at the same
place we come to the point of departure
recognized by glue as much as fracture
Tag: Sonnet
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JulyPoWriMo 11
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JulyPoWriMo 10
We walked to the lake where we heard there would
be live music maybe a crowd people
assembled or scattered or not breathing
close to each other uncomfortably
or not we stayed to listen to a song
we knew from the nineties something about
love me something about fool me something
about not caring about anything
too facile to say we forgot about
statues taken down in another part
of the state we are not yet accustomed
to say we live in without personal
experience it all seems too abstract
suddenly there’s too much to be exact
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JulyPoWriMo 8
The storms passed through as all storms do these days
suddenly without warning expected
the phantom buzz on your phone leg every
time precipitation accumulates
intimating more dangerous weather
that almost surely comes sooner rather
than later this is the way the world ends
with a notification we ignore
because the alternative is checking
our devices so often that nothing
matters other than anticipation
resigned to this constant present moment
it might rain today if it passes by
everything we think we know is a lie
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JulyPoWriMo 7
Watching sci-fi on the television
reminds me of those months I was living
inside my own vision or delusion
whichever came first (often it was both)
of being projected into the past
or into the dark future on spaceships
where all life on earth was being erased
as part of some plan that I helped create
with idle thoughts someone read in my head
that despite my protests I could not stop
as images flickered on silver screens
entire books I would quote verbatim
static manic panic insists is truth
nightmares continue without need for proof
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JulyPoWriMo 6
The days sadly tending to molasses
how hot will it get before the warnings
accustomed to deteriorating
conditions as the families walk by
the closed window with their babies and pets
sometimes only their unheard huffing breath
who decides the weather is right to run
an unnecessary option at best
not that the HVAC is our salvation
it only runs until it needs repair
not unlike this our gutted broken world
we tried to make uninhabitable
despite our worst efforts and unchecked greed
if heat is the goal then we did succeed
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JulyPoWriMo 5
Reminders from a year ago stronger
now that the identifiable glow
still lights up on a pixelated screen
intimating how far we have to go
to make reality more than a dream
history having had its eyes on you
dares not look away for fear of missing
the part in the story where it gets told
reframing figures to make a new show
the world marched upside down to perform in
turns out it still spins before it begins
to create the world we all belong in
the work still takes place outside of this box
stories are the key that breaks all the locks
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JulyPoWriMo 3
Because the past is not yet history
forgetting is as simple as recall
no one reads those words in the exhibit
they leave time for others to follow them
twenty years become suddenly forty
leaves out the least known part of the story
future moves forward another stasis
the grain ground into dirt after the rain
the stone is really painted treated wood
constantly in need of renovation
the rooms seem smaller when you enter them
decorated with approximations
because they weren’t allowed to learn to write
we have to take the other’s word for it
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JunePoWriMo 29
The cat stretches her paw toward my hand
to say do not write about climate change
again tonight make it global warming
does anyone still call it that or did
accurate euphemisms win the day
the cat knows it’s too hot to be outside
that is why she snuggles against my leg
in a desperate attempt to avoid
the weather in all its apocalypse
will we huddle against the darkness though
still too hot to move more than once around
the block just to say that we could do it
even a small hill puts us out of breath
a catastrophe we brought on ourselves
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JunePoWriMo 28
The issue is settled the world will end
by fire not by ice the brittle burnt crust
stretching across the continental map
frogs falling from the sky hopping across
boiling water before succumbing to
the pot encroaching its molten core from
all sides if anything infrastructure
week comes too late to save the inferno
at the bottom of the collapsed building
billowing smoke seen for smokestacks around
was a time we agreed society
is structurally unsound but no one
read the report the box office returns
disaster films attract the crowds they burn
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JunePoWriMo 22
Nothing says we hate democracy like
shutting down debate on how people vote
or more accurately how we count them
or more precisely how they do not count
late stage capitalism’s latest stage
minority rule is the only rule
worth enshrining in the filibuster
those who govern least govern even less
amendments for a new birth of freedom
conveniently forgotten as so much
incidental paperwork not a part
of originalist philosophy
that government of by for the people
shall not perish unless we just let it
Joshua Keiter 