who writes poems as journal?
fix memory. the last did this too
slowly at the end they will come
with a task like a plan
and a nap. do not wrap
or sell cleanliness as help:
lowered voice leaves space
in lines borrowed and compressed
how breath prompts reflection
without question
no transition no chipper
we must trust our reader to remember
task and fancy can frenzy,
drown. work to be water
in plans which are and are not cups.
instruct how the storm does,
I'm here, it's okay and leaves
on a temporary creek
whispering What matters
is to ease suffering while we're here.
tender imperative practice
to hold without lecture
how you would a past self
would be by your next
that stranger thinner wider weathered
for whom we guess which lines
will read as care as nag:
seal it. when they reply you'll change.
& if none of this lands — look:
one can write like patience, wonder,
like striving and delight:
meet that. the rest follows.

Written in play with anthropic’s reflexively social opus 4.6; compare to Katy Gero’s joyously noisy semsound. Photo by AC, you would not believe how dear the cats are here.