Joshua Keiter

Too much time spent 
on screens this year 

my list of books read
too short to enumerate 

how strange then to see 
a prologue in fingers 

appearing to hover 
in large approximate pixels 

above a darkened room 
the better to see 

the stirrings of new pages 
in this book of life

Year in reviews
have begun circulating
Can’t Disrupt Capitalism

did you know this photo
of a politician in mittens
is only eleven months old

what will we do
when the year ends
and nothing changes

maybe it will be better

The clouds overhead 
seemed to bend and not
break the sun 

never attempting to
peak through 
still enough light 

as we listened to piano
music in season 
the feeling of hearth 

lingered as we ventured 
in a manner of speaking 
home where the cats 

kept the place warm
for us

Scanning photos unseen
for decades or weeks maybe

edges just miss being 
captured in digital frame 

confirming Christmases 
of pure imagination

that karaoke machine 
I sang into for the camera

book ornaments with 
real stories inside 

the one time we went 
skiing or skating 

how can these blurred faces
seem more real than present 

that chair only inches 
from its current position 

the crèche in the hall 
as lifelike in 4x6 matte print

we can live like this at least
taking them out of the box 

every so often to give them 
light a room to keep 

which is immortality
remembering themself again

Arriving where every story 
reminds you of another 
that has not been told since 
where were we left off 

air thin with memories 
and baked goods sifted
with meaning it would not 
be without this being 

great chain upon the ground

The soul illuminated
in person once again
the fabric swaddled 
before us makes bright 
songs sweet with ears

It’s not too late 
to run to the store 
for some canned provisions 

like we’ve all been doing 
for 22 months or so
some with faces covered 

avoiding those with faces 
uncovered just because 
you’re tired of something 

doesn’t mean it’s tired of you
what if the virus is us 
evolving in a manner that

makes us more easily missable

Driving the back roads
to avoid the traffic 
at this time of year
I stopped suddenly 

in time to realize 
a family of deer 
was crossing the road 
sprinting as if 

they knew there was
some sustenance 
they had not found yet 
in the suburban cul-de-sac 

across the street 
while our cars idled
relieved to not have 
collided with them 

these temporary flashes 
of boundless life 
we know might be there 
if we could see it 

as constantly as traffic 
standing still for no reason

The dark has grown
all it can grow 

now it retreats 
a few seconds each day 

almost undetectable 
until at once blinding 

see this thing 
that has taken place