Posted tagged ‘napowrimo’

Armed

April 5, 2022

Armed

One reads about the Ukraine: this one first shot
in the elbow, then, later, so mangled that all that lets him be found
is the broken arm
sticking out of the ground. 

You could write about the arm not willing
to be silenced, but the fact is
he was a whole person. 

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Hi, a poem of sorts based on terrible news coming out of the parts of Ukraine, such as Bucha, that the Russians occupied and left. It’s a draft poem, that I’m leaving as is, not because it’s a good poem, but because the subject matter is such that it feels ridiculous to try to be artful. The drawing is from my “archive,” a copy of an Inuit piece, I believe, in the Met.

Wasps

April 4, 2022

Wasps

This is an old house that births wasps. 
Also, memories.
But also, wasps—

Dozy wasps, drones in the non-modern sense, dazed, who, when they fly, float
as if airlifted by some balloon
of forced air heating.

I try not to kill them, to gently sweep them with the edge
of the envelope onto a flap of free calendar,
though they tend to cling to the envelope, which I then carry,
pressed next to the calendar, to a door, that I carefully open,
then whoosh them away.

I do not
not kill them
out of any particular affection for wasps.
(Yes, they can sting.) I just find something sweet
in the not-killing.

I find that sweetness even
in the time it takes to not kill, especially in the time it takes
to not kill, even
when terribly busy.

The taking of that time reminds me of
who I want to be, how
I want to be, how
I want to be
remembered.

No, they are not honey bees,
yes, wasps,
still, whoosh, sweetness. 

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Another sort of draft poem for April. Have a good day!