Joshua Keiter

On the way to work listened to podcast 
about book banning throughout history 
on the way home talk of the politics
of misinformation gaining more speed 
everything that seems novel has a past
if only we can train our sights to see 
the problem is the past is not the past 
the present more an accumulation 
we cannot dig ourselves out from under 
the only way we can look back is through 
the ruins we navigate every day
background radiation humming backwards 
trying to avoid potholes in the road 
they show up every year no matter what

Waiting all night for the show to begin 
we have no clue what will disappoint more
the fact that time is wasted or that time
exists as a concept we still aren’t sure 
is real as evidenced by what happened 
to the rest of this day last I recalled 
it was this morning while I was cleaning
the cat boxes the cat sat on the chair 
they sit in when it is time for breakfast
and I discouraged that way of thinking
although I could not be sure it was not
time for breakfast what is a morning for
but to relinquish the dreams of nighttime 
for day we think we know is not a dream

Planning on medaling in the event 
I realize how many Olympics
I have been alive for and remember 
and equally the many I forget 
by way of not watching them at the time  
looking back it is not uncommon for 
me to take at least four years for granted
while at the same time the third grade me sits
at the Apple IIe figuring out 
that J and K mean left and right while I
and M move up and down the hot dog or
biathlon or bobsled winter games in 
8-bit graphics or maybe Canada
three decades ago seems like yesterday

Hard to figure out how much time has passed
since last I wondered how little time goes
in a straight line not even a circuit
could explain the serpentine byways I 
represented as myself depicting 
every drift as meaningful substances
substrata of earth undiscovered by 
digging even deeper than possible
probably the other side will appear 
as upside down as frames of reference
tilted slightly askew astride the wall
who knows what time is or the difference
between being born in time and lasting 
forever or at least everlasting

A day of errands approaching normal
except for the people who refuse to
somehow still wearing masks in Target is
anathema to participating
in a civilized society why
did some of us decide keeping distance 
was a bad idea I for one don’t 
mind never sharing space with anyone
ever again no one wants to see that 
spittle of the mind dripping without pause 
open to the external elements
bad ideas made worse by their speaking
wish there could be an endgame in our sights
if you are still there please turn out the lights

Spent a good portion of the evening shocked
at the passage of time namely how much 
has passed within our lifetime unnoticed 
it must be that past present and future 
all happen at once how else to explain
the ennui of your twenties growing up
to be a teenager at the same age
as you were two thirds of your life ago
writing lyrics in your bedroom without
thinking of life insurance benefits
or where you should situate all the stuff
accumulated in a previous
phase you think might be useful as you try 
to pass on what it means to be alive