The moon
faintly glowing
grimaces slightly
-
NovPoWriMo 9
My latest routine
involves listening
to an album
twenty years old
say Kid A by
Radiohead and
wondering how
they knew what
the next twenty years
would feel like
-
NovPoWriMo 8
Un-relatable
those whose lives are not at least
partially changed by
the symphonic swells
singing into blinding lights
coming together
to tell a story
the only way we know how
by being human
-
NovPoWriMo 7
Less leaves on the trees
lets the light in more
no one knows what time
shadows arrive by now
sliver of pumpkin moon
below the horizon line
makes darkness welcome
nothing to shine on
things are reflections
of what they used to be
illusions in gray matter
waiting for sleep to end
-
NovPoWriMo 6
Could not remember
the last time I had to be
at tech rehearsal
or anything else
before nine in the morning
the windows and grass
were covered in frost
as the sun struggled to rise
why bother changing clocks
just keep different hours
hibernate if you can
let the world run itself
into a new ground as if
it knew what it was doing
-
NovPoWriMo 5
Pictures of the day
in reverse
a sunset in red
lights among the trees
not yet lit
limbs bare
new life growing
barely visible
asleep but active
deepens the line
-
NovPoWriMo 4
Finding it hard to believe
the poem I wrote a year ago
about waiting for votes to be counted
would count for so little
a little more than a year later
but then it wasn’t just about
counting votes as yet uncounted
but counting all the souls lost
to a novel coronavirus
we had only just gotten around to
wearing masks to prevent
and the number back then was
an order of magnitude less than
it is now as announced blithely
on the National Public Radio
as 750,000 a number which by now
they don’t even bother comparing to
like the number of casualties
in all the wars the so called United
States participated in combined
almost as if we have forgotten
how to count in the mean time
how to save tax dollars by offering
fewer social services no one
got accustomed to taking for granted
so therefore they won’t know what
they’re missing so they’ll vote for
the opposite party just to shake things up
just to send a message to the obstructionists
they are on their side all you have to do
is count the years you’ve been alive
and divide them by election years
even off election years no need to be on
and you’ll see the end game in sight
since you were born nothing has trickled
down no one’s counting those numbers
no one can even visualize a trillion
just a lot of numbers we might remember
if in your distracted sleep deprived state
you remember to google another string
of adjectives in search of a noun
another year down unannounced
who knows what number counts next
-
NovPoWriMo 3
Exhilarating
sound of live music playing
with actors singing
on stage together
giddy to think we are here
we hope it is safe
-
NovPoWriMo 1
Could be forgiven
for thinking these
are the last days
the sun turns dark
and everything golden
at a certain hour
missing afternoon
breeze too cold
to walk home with
this song is older
than I was when
I first heard it
barring catastrophe
is something we can’t
do as a species I guess
Joshua Keiter 