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
-
JulyPoWriMo 3
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JulyPoWriMo 2
The butterfly stayed
in the yard along with us
we followed its wings
so closely we might
recognize them in a pinch
such is familiar
even if our paths
do not cross this way again
we knew each other
-
JulyPoWriMo 1
As the world falls down
where to go but underground
the magic dances
chilly down here within you
-
JuneHaikuWriMo 30
Seems appropriate
that going back to normal
includes reminders
of awful people
doing awful things without
any consequence
still dominating
the headlines—helicopters
hovering above
filling the time slots
they did not know how to fill
while they were in jail
or bombing unknown
countries they knew they did not
know how much they knew
America’s sad defense
-
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
-
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
-
JunePoWriMo 27
I hear a question in the cat’s purr
as he traverses the stairs expending
way too much energy in this heat
bringing us two mouse toys he thought
we should know he caught as he was
roaming the corners of the house
we in our human selves dare not explore
as he cools himself on the carpet he asks
what are we doing here inside the house
though I may have not translated
the purrs in precise measurements
still while you are here let me stare at you
bring you gifts I offer as tribute to you
rub against your leg briefly then
disappear only to reappear seconds later
-
JuneHaikuWriMo 26
Dreams interrupted
by sleep echo through the day
tinting each moment
with half remembered
stories my mind tried to tell
to the someone else
I would be when I woke up
-
JunePoWriMo 25
Once upon a time
There was oh what there was (or there wasn’t) in the oldest of days and ages and times
There was, there was not
Beyond seven mountain ranges, beyond seven rivers
In a time already long past, when it was still of use to cast a spell
At the beginning of time, at the first time
Back in the days when it was still of help to wish for a thing
This is an old story
Once there was, where there wasn’t, there was a
I remember something that our father told me and that is this
A long, long, long time ago it was (and there was a king in Galway)
Long ago, long ago
In times of that a tiger used to smoke
Once upon a time, there was a truly great friendship
Someone was, someone wasn’t
There once was, (as never before) because if there wasn’t, it wouldn’t have been to told
(In some kingdom, in some land) There lived, there was
Where the water was being strewn and the sand poured
And if they haven’t died already, they are living happily to this day
Once there was, and once there wasn’t
In the long distant days of yore, when haystacks winnowed sieves, when genies played jereed in the old bathhouse, fleas were barbers, camels were town criers, I softly rocked my baby grandmother to sleep in her creaking cradle there lived in an exotic land far, far away
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JunePoWriMo 24
I spent some time today
not very long just an hour or so
probably less perhaps only a few minutes
thinking about how strange it is
that some events happened in the past
and while they were happening
they were happening right now
in the moment as it were
and if you think hard enough
you can remember what it was like
to experience those moments
as if for the first time
as if all the intervening times
you have thought about those moments
did not interfere with your interpretation
of what it felt like to live in those moments
when all you had was before you
and all that was past was before you as well
and you could live in this unmediated moment
you knew you would remember some day
with fondness for the times you had
before you knew there were times at all
Joshua Keiter 