Poems
by KJ Hannah Greenberg

 

Skiff

 

Little, aquatic, flat-bottomed, sharp-bowed, square-sterned vehicle,

Your sail-propelled existence, conceivably, we regard as dreamlike,

Alternatively, moved thru oars, maybe, by setting poles, gets zoned

For angling, if not for loving’s pleasures; you’re high spirits’ abode.

 

So, we scarf planks, use double-sided carpet fastens & screws, drill

Gulfs, deftly cut fiberglass, stitch using copper wire, fillet & quartz

Tape interior chines, slather epoxy over exterior angles, sand, sand,

Sand, otherwise, fix flaws, varnish. Later we beautify with coloring.

 

Subsequently, we putter on inshore or salty streams in crafts devised

For tyro sailors. We pretend we’re captaining yawls, xebecs, or else

Caïques. Imaginably, our ferries seem catamarans, ketches, caravels,

Clippers, brigantines, not down-to-earth, comforting, fishing vessels.

 

Both as solo scullers & small crews, we exclaim your surroundings,

Regard your painted sides, your maritime bases, as enabling sundry

Deep-sea fantasies although our journeys remain checked by pond

Coastlines, lack of motors, sunburn, further engagements, lassitude.

 

 

 

 

 

Equine Expiry

 

When horsey lives go awry, when their agely movements confound

Their querencias, when predilections for grass or sun grip wrong,

When “sorrow” or “groan” form the province of equine vocabulary,

No established routines ably deter expiry.

 

For every Sakura flowering in Washington, they’re scores of Japanese

Dead after nuclear fallout, countless families erased because of Little

Boy along with Fat Man, inestimable radioactive pockets continue

Eradicating life as well as hope.

 

In a faraway galaxy, intelligent cuttlefish use aliens’ bones, not rusk,

To teeth their young. They’re additionally artful at self-ablation, at

Creating “masterpieces” from removing vital tissue, sinews, blood,

Next target’s Earth.

 

 

 

 

 

Heteronym

 

There were no neopronouns nor indications that your preferred

Arcology-spanning antithetical social movements. Fairly looks

Like the dehiscence of our relational status changed as soon as

Social media sought proof of our love.

 

Going forward, my presents mattered little, in fact, was scoffed.

As well, no matter how many tears marked my socks, there was

No return (invalid accounts make for unhappy exchanges; they

Often produce scarce fruit.)

 

If only your claggy remarks homed past our spuddles, I’d never

Remain qui vive for better adventures. As is, we’re a scoby like

No other August remnant eking life before falling, still winding

Conducting naught.

 

 

 

 

Feelings of Animosity in a Dystopia

 

Our culture’s indolence brings forth social divergence, grand quotas of engagement rings

Featuring moissanite, leadership relying on locum tenes upshots, preserved neopronouns.

Dead cell phone batteries do little to deter locksport participants. Individuals still pan for

Gold, phytomine. Old agents’ A-show’s become no more than kinship adoption. Offering

Survival hinges on current can openers. We’re destined to disobey original blueprints, to

Abide by something less exacting, much flimsier. There’s reduced utility in verbal skills

If competence can’t relate to real life. Guilelessly, people considered “characters” might

Take part in osculations with Truth, otherwise uncontrollably judder apropos few quests.

 

When we’ve missing equanimity—grey rock posturing fails. Away, Waldensian-like

Denizens, too, consumers purchasing inexpensive invisibility shields (else vanishing

Domiciles’ exteriors via vanatablack paint) prove tenacious akin to ice road truckers.

Pity “Zen-like” antiheroes suffering every bit of pain dealt them. Plagues of winged

Xylocopa sulcatipes dissolve jots of detail. Briefly, neuroplasticity stops with hearts

Attempting to train cane corsi, chihuahuas. Such folks deteriorate asemically akin to

Birds enduring egg binding, geese being plucked live, and roasted hubaras, until the

Causes of syncope are eliminated. Communitarian manners of coping lodge securer.

 

As concerns invention’s bearing upon message reception, our framing of episodes varies.

Cosmic norms of the Archaic Epoch, dialogical ones of The Classical Epoch, descriptive

Kinds from the Hellenistic Epoch, and prescriptive sorts from The Imperial Epoch, show

How chirography addresses space, whereas orality addresses time. Today, one comeback

To elites’ command of media, to our managed perceptions, is digital gardening; bringing

Revisited/rewritten content. If Merchant Marines stipulated positioning bins, generative

AI, deepfake technology, must not replace typography. Sometimes, discerning wherefor

Xs and Os are less mindful than printing presses, hand copying’s sidled over wonkiness.

 

Only ethereal persons walk through walls when being pursued. Yet, adroit diagnoses

Prevent no car wrecks. Also, girls getting rich repeatedly vending virginity, normally

Undergo hymen restoration surgeries. Weigh, worse that rotationplasty is the anagen

Phase of hoped-for recovery. “Silent No More” crusades can’t treat cancer, dissuade

Some families from gifting durian portions unless they’ve debated the relative value

Of cowpeas, plus japes, or forgotten to feed foxes foods full of taurine. Additionally,

Underwater drones exterminate starfish, but Monsanto retains scores of food brands,

None of which formulate sygalon tree root epilepsy medicine, countersign all incels.

 

Certain mortals have endured roll call at Fort Yellowknife, escaped to Niihau, recorded

Mt. Rushmore’s secret room, whistled when hiking the Carnic Alps, ridden on Belgian

Brabants, maybe Akhal-Tekes, hitchhiked Dalton Highway’s length, encamped in Slab

City, vacationed in Andorra, or visited pene-enclaves like Point Roberts. Speech’s able

To be simulated after brain signals. Switzerland’s approved precise “assisted suicides.”

Models’ pay, their trials and tribulations outweigh medical scribes’. Curved escalators

Exist. Homicides are committed daily employing freshly dead, silver-striped Blaasops.

Nonelectric, portable washing machines could dominate autophagy, rampage, & so on.

 

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