An Uber or some such vehicle
dropped off a refugee family
with child luggage and toys
outside of my office today
they waited there
in the breeze which seemed
a little warmer than normal
but probably too cold for them
while the agency held
an all staff meeting
in the other building
they looked cold so a member
invited them inside
until the meeting was over
which I determined by asking
a worker going back inside
the family headed out
and waited there a little longer
the child riding a small bike
I asked if they spoke to someone
to make sure they were looked after
they said they had
when I remembered to look outside
again a few minutes later
they and their things had removed
to a secure location inside
to stay warm and begin
with any luck a new life
in a foreign country
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FebPoWriMo 28
-
FebPoWriMo 27
A not insignificant swath
of my consciousness
convinced itself the world
was already ending in 2016
with deep fakes being
interviewed on the news
stick figures on social media
telling you to be like them
the sickness of conspiracy
threading into a needle
ticking towards itself
into oblivion
after the fog cleared
I told myself it was not
the darkest timeline
I neglected to intimate
the seeds of delusion
were still everywhere
hacking into brains
without abandon
warfare masquerading as
meddling interference
now the bombs are falling
and the truckers convoy
we are at the point of needing
ammunition not a ride
-
FebPoWriMo 26
The ghost I was in
that house by myself looks much
the same as the fear
bearing down upon
whatever might be the worst
case scenario
tiny reminders
how much I have been lived through
and how much remains
on the other side
which I constantly live in
already not yet
-
FebPoWriMo 25
Such a day all day
reading paywalled articles
that I will pay for
sophisticated
ways of saying not saying
money oil is more
important than lives
who have no choice but to live
their pockets full of
sunflower seeds hope
it becomes impossible
to live and to breathe
-
FebPoWriMo 24
It rained all day
not torrentially but
the kind that feels
like tiny daggers
overwhelming
all surfaces with
cold steel persistence
precipitation as
a form of fallout
the only weather
extant in the inevitable
nuclear winter
a generation had
no chance to fear
now can’t help if
they have empathy
to imagine touching
in some form their skin
-
FebPoWriMo 23
World hurling itself
back to normal much faster
the reasons for war
inexplicable
just like all the other ones
live long enough and
you see another
when will injustice become
a brief and just peace
keeping to ourselves alone
-
FebPoWriMo 22
Too many tunes
telling time tepidly
terrible transmission
turning up the telly
to retrieve tumescence
to tell the truth it’s
all too much to take
forwards or backwards
even upside down
little significance
birds shitting on
tempered glass stained
they tweet two two zero
two two zero two two
-
FebPoWriMo 20
Walking a light load
of trash to the corner
the yellow light
in the house window
and the light in
the house beside it
evidence of things
being what they are
-
FebPoWriMo 19
How could anyone
who learned what we learned
two years ago about
how air circulates with
the requisite diagrams
want to go maskless
ever again the simple
answer is they never learned
Joshua Keiter 