Joshua Keiter

You will know the roots 
have run deep 
by the sign in the branches 
waving welcome home 

we once were tiny seeds 
all scattered together 
waiting for homecoming 
by straying from the paths 

finding new friends 
as familiar as air 
filtered and regenerated 
through our limbs 

fortunate this canopy resides 
overhead and by our side

In the late afternoon 
as the sun makes its first appearance 
burning off the humidity 
that slept us through the day 
you sit in the yard 
with a book of Virginia poems 
coming to terms with history 
and use a piece of paper 
to set right a stranded cicada 
screaming for lack of anything body
having spent most of its before life 
trawling through the darkness
suddenly witnessing with senses 
too new but for bewilderment 
the shock of the sun 
then becoming earth again

Don’t know yet 
what it’s like 
to not grow older 
as time passes 

is that something 
you know now
or is it a mistake 
the living attribute 

to the dead 
for all we know 
you’re still growing 
as petals gather 

falling from the trees 
to make way for 
new branches 
you may still climb

What I lost 
when we lost you 
was what we had 
in common 

I would offer 
some concrete details 
to vivid the mind 
of the reader 

instead I refer 
to the first stanza 
in which all 
we had was lost 

irretrievable 
messages unread

A pleasure 
moving my chair 
to avoid the sun 
unafraid of being 
closer to people 

Overheard 
now that we can 
be together 
we may speak the truths
that change things

Close your eyes 
and the bugs disappear 

The groan become yearn 
for a new year