Switch

~ qbit 
The day slips away, a greased crow –
hours and minutes on fast wings, my hands slick
from trying to spell the alphabet backward,
cawing: “Mind your p’s and q’s!” and which is which

Waiting for Amazon to deliver a box of wind, 
open its thermals to lift my pages,
my shuffling, flapping sorrows and anthems  –
trash or wings and which is which 

My wife sends me to the pharmacy, midwife
to the season's skele-ghost and fire-nurse costumes,
the mockingbird kiosk sings for my debit card –
and which witch is which

I stop in the park and thumb coins into a rose bed,
wait for autumn to brew me a coffee –
I bang on the trash bin, demand oak trees
drop their red and yellow poems, end their masquerade

Of art and life, and tell me which is which

For Shay’s Word Garden and The Sunday Muse

29 thoughts on “Switch”

  3. “I bang on the trash bin, demand oak trees
    drop their red and yellow poems”

    That is a whole poem right there.

    I also love these:

    “My wife sends me to the pharmacy, midwife
    to the season’s skele-ghost and fire-nurse costumes”

    “the mockingbird kiosk sings for my debit card”

    “I stop in the park and thumb coins into a rose bed”

    “wait for autumn to brew me a coffee”

    Your work is always so impressive, engaging, and unique.

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  4. Amazon says you can even subscribe to those wind boxes. I used to work with a few wind bags, but I don’t think that’s the same thing. As for the oaks, they are notoriously stubborn and obey few commands. Many are hoarders and won’t even drop their leaves at all until spring. I wish i could tell you which witch is which, or whether I am a good witch or a sandwich, but all is a fog this morning. Nonetheless, your words are always wings, never trash, my friend. Enjoyed this.

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  5. Just when I think this poem is a welcome bit of comic relief, you hurl that falling star of a final stanza at us. Just beautiful writing there. And whichever is which, I have decided I personally will probably not ever know. Midterms bring many a box of wind our way, but I like yours better.

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  8. The first line is so captivating it pulled me all the way past which witch witch to the superb ending Qbit! Your word craft is always genius my friend! I also really love the “waiting for Amazon to deliver a box of wind”!!!

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  10. “sorrows and anthems” — also never sure which is which — or are they the same. This is a marvelous tangle that reflects the tumble of EndOfOctoberBeginningOfNovember as we free fall into December… like leaves. Cool writing!

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  13. I so love this poem…”Waiting for Amazon to deliver a box of wind,
    open its thermals to lift my pages, my shuffling, flapping sorrows and anthems –
    trash or wings and which is which” I feel this way when I’m waitng on a book. Sometimes I want to learn, sometimes simply to escape whether the book is good or not…just take me away to some other place…Awesome writing!

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