Poems
by KJ Hannah Greenberg
Creels and Hampers
My creels and hampers, nonetheless,
Infuse me with accomplishment.
Its arrogate to weigh on social shifts,
Especially when quaiches dropped
Become yesterdays fiery sati.
When housecats blep, few fingers
Get chewed nor noses scratched.
Gowks, anyway, attempt
Propitiating felines.
Syncope oft arises from cases where
Contumacious sorts stop prancing
round mulberry bushes, halt
Their peregrinating through
Local howffs.
Most sapid ales drown champions,
Leave lorn ladies alone, frighten
Small children other than
Scare away pedant souls
Accustomed to viewing
Lower classes.
All in all, Zeligs, singularly, survive
Such goings-on as supplied by
Taverns mendacities. They
Disseminate calm when
Other folks cant help
But button lips else
Bite back tongues.
Those people appropriate reverence
Due to asynchronous colleagues
While blowing foam bubbles
From their beer, whistling
About meltemia, rorquals,
Foreign lasses, maybe,
Also, the price of cod
In distant ports.
Clouds
In charcoal, pressed increasingly harder,
The clouds tinted.
Until emptied of rain, of hail, of snow.
Thereafter, like scattering feathers,
They floated apart.
In their stead a single dandelion grew.
Viral Murmuration
Strange phenomena, like those resulting from thousands of denizens swooping together,
Coordinating their patterned promotions of specific causes, be those centers tin hats,
Vaccinations, hand sanitizers, social distancing, buying plastic spatulas, parkour,
Gives rise to an unenviable exclusivity.
Some angelic-looking strangers are axe-murderers, or dads delinquent with child support.
Other times, theyre just people working hard to invalidate experiences by which
Women motor the media or direct themselves toward sexual matters without
Questioning attitudes on reproduction, housing, inequitable salaries.
Certain factions, further, dont consider applying mores because the more they undertake,
The more carnage they evoke via benevolent friends, colleagues, and neighbors.
Difficult experiences behoove us to put principles before pleasures, to protest
Kneeling on someone til they die, to argue against ransacking capitols.
The nature of compassions ethics, plus certain ways in which systems of social behavior
Impact favorably on individuals, increases social investments when successes from
Divergent cultural elements are not relegated to youngsters, but falls on everyones
Beloved habiliments. At such times, civilization stabilizes.
Love between Friends
The nights we chimed like broken glass, laughing so hard that
Waitstaff hushed us, posing fingers on lips, arms akimbo, were
Moments of sangria-inspired sunshine, of polyglot bloodletting.
You with your divorce and me with my domestic griefs, could
Have patronized taverns, hostelries, alehouses, habitually, but
Yielded to childrens, pets, also various green friends needs.
When moons were blue, or pink, or red, at least full, as women,
Wed drink to breathing, ambulating, fleeing transplant surgery,
Likewise, sales on eggs, toilet tissue, leaf rakes, art, pantyhose.
Then you relocated, uprooted kith and kin, began once more with
A new man; not just another coast or city, county, state, but clear
Across the realm. First, you called daily, talks newlywed-colored.
Weeks became months became years. Your children grew, married,
Mine got educated. Your grandsons portraits traveled thousands of
Electronic miles. I volleyed with photos of potted plants, bonus cats.
Today, my youths contemplate partnerships within corporate offices.
Yours churn out babies. Galleries promote your art, pay your debts.
My words become pages, books, collections; my homes unchanged.
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