Joshua Keiter

Proof of time passing
A picture you’ve never seen
Showing up somehow

Reminding you what
And who you cared about then
Instant in a frame

That might have been lost
Had time not taken its toll
Inside of boxes

Always left unpacked
Until the moment occurs
To take out again

For light to reveal
It was never even lost
But waiting to know

What it was when it first shone

Because we don’t need
To wait and see what happens
It has and it will

Do all you can to
Make this transfer of power
Worth putting on pants

Your naked ballot
Needs to be presentable
In a court of law

The drywall may get damaged

On this equinox
We are each taking our knocks
And nothing’s equal

Went shopping today
People still cannot discern
Which way is one way

RBG 

Fight for what you care
about in a way that leads
others to join you

A day of mourning
The wind was so cold and yet
The sun was so bright

No no no no no
No no no no no no no
No no no no fuck

Distance is learning
How to be not so distant
In the same spaces

What we were before
Will not take place on a screen
Waiting to unmute

Hearing those voices
We have not heard in so long
Brings tears to my eyes

As does the silence
Of knowing this has to end
With fires still burning

Last night I dreamed that
I was at a state dinner
With the president

When I approached him
I could hear the gears moving
Proving that he was

An automaton
At some point he fell over
Or someone pushed him

His head cracked open
Exactly like a statue
That has been toppled

We left him there and went home

Why is there a duck
On the lawn at dusk—oh wait
That’s a squirrel’s tail

The haze in the sky
Thicker than cloud cover but
It is not a cloud

Do we inhabit
The darkest timeline or will
It get much darker

Don’t wait to find out
Get up every morning and
Then go back to bed