Evidence

I can’t dispose of the evidence
traces remain, and the forensic team of
concerned citizens squander their time
replicating the artifacts via
words, echoes, song lyrics, and
dispassionate glances

I’m not fooled
by the pretense of imagination or
friendship, ha! what a laugh
the train once looped in circles, spirals,
Venn diagrams delineating and defining
the word ‘chance’

I look out the window at the passing landscape
it’s quite new, Arctic white, bright as
mis-matched emotions, liquid as plate tectonics
once-useful archetypes litter the prairie
even at night the aurora
is untouchable

[RK, 5/29/22]

Out of Print

hidden by green debris
the limpkin shrieks
eye-opener headline
tsunami, turnover, turncoat
Mr. Benedict Arnold

back page obituaries
survived by, in loving memory
instead of flowers the family requests
and yet
penny saver, thrifty nickel
pages flipped
coffee shop chit-chat
floats away and all that remains
is the scratched Formica counters

it used to be enough, now
not even a footnote

[RK, 5/29/22]