I walked an hour to the secure ballot dropbox and back, or thirty minutes each way. Here is a quick poem inspired by the walk. Enjoy, and be sure to vote if you are in the USA and able to do so!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A procession \u2014 beginning home,
my destination a box downtown
where slips of paper decide
who decides the fate of a nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Around my feet the spent leaves
curled like bridal confetti
while above the green trees,
crowns dipped in autumnal fire,
bore witness to evening stillness
and the mellow light of day’s retreat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A route beginning among homes,
giving way to rush-hour streets
trickling with cars, masked dog-walkers,
young runners heaving bare-faced,
circles of young and old sitting
distanced in greenspaces or benches,
and finally the ocean of businesses
encircling the elmless city’s heart,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
ending at a box \u2014 much smaller
than the cavernous ballot-urn
my imagination had etched for me \u2014
while I circled to avoid two women
unmasked and chatting loudly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Take a photo of me!” one said
to the other as they traded cameras
and I pressed back towards sunset.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Across the street upon a grate
lay a dead bird, head bent back,
a gentle breeze tugging chest-down
newly cold with halted breath,
perhaps a casualty of a window’s
illusion of space and escape,
an omen of unfounded hope.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Make a poem of me, <\/em>the moment said, The moment passed, the envelope’s \u2709\ufe0f<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I walked an hour to the secure ballot dropbox and back, or thirty minutes each way. Here is a quick poem inspired by the walk. Enjoy, and be sure to vote if you are in the USA and able to do so! The Dropbox Near Sunset A procession \u2014 beginning home,my destination a box downtownwhere…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"The Dropbox Near Sunset\n\n(A quick poem about returning my absentee ballot.)","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[23,21],"class_list":["post-500","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-poem","tag-poetry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9qEhO-84","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":477,"url":"https:\/\/www.kayeboesme.com\/pangrammatike\/2020\/08\/27\/skillbuilding-in-verse-2-second-hour-of-waking\/","url_meta":{"origin":500,"position":0},"title":"Skillbuilding in Verse #2: Second Hour of Waking","author":"kaye","date":"27 August 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"8 AM \u2014 a dullsky oozing through glass,storms forecast \u2014 a lullof stillness must pass, one more hollow hourbefore work should start \u2014rushing to shower,to speak prayers (by heart memorized, rootedand constitutedof tisane and sounds) \u2014while incense surroundsand each moment moveson a clock's fine grooves. This morning, I decided to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"exercises\"","block_context":{"text":"exercises","link":"https:\/\/www.kayeboesme.com\/pangrammatike\/tag\/exercises\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":455,"url":"https:\/\/www.kayeboesme.com\/pangrammatike\/2020\/01\/02\/poem-in-reckoning-4\/","url_meta":{"origin":500,"position":1},"title":"Poem in Reckoning 4","author":"kaye","date":"2 January 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"General writing update: Yesterday, January 1, Reckoning 4 was released. The literary journal features speculative writing on environmental justice. #4 focuses on challenges with the built environment. 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The \"Read\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"writing\"","block_context":{"text":"writing","link":"https:\/\/www.kayeboesme.com\/pangrammatike\/tag\/writing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.kayeboesme.com\/pangrammatike\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Screen-Shot-2021-02-07-at-9.08.41-PM.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.kayeboesme.com\/pangrammatike\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Screen-Shot-2021-02-07-at-9.08.41-PM.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.kayeboesme.com\/pangrammatike\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Screen-Shot-2021-02-07-at-9.08.41-PM.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.kayeboesme.com\/pangrammatike\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Screen-Shot-2021-02-07-at-9.08.41-PM.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.kayeboesme.com\/pangrammatike\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Screen-Shot-2021-02-07-at-9.08.41-PM.png?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.kayeboesme.com\/pangrammatike\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Screen-Shot-2021-02-07-at-9.08.41-PM.png?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":399,"url":"https:\/\/www.kayeboesme.com\/pangrammatike\/2019\/08\/16\/transmutation\/","url_meta":{"origin":500,"position":3},"title":"Transmutation","author":"kaye","date":"16 August 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"crush thesecertain flower petalsthe pulp redhot beneath your fingerssticky, sweet, spicywhat it touchesit changesdeepening gracewe will ascend likedoves into the heavenssee the downupon your skin,once red as sacrifice,now white as papercrush thesewings against thewindowpanesyour bed forgottenhands fadingmemoriesthis new shapecannot grasp On Twitter, Kaleidotrope (a specfic lit mag) gave a spam\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"poem\"","block_context":{"text":"poem","link":"https:\/\/www.kayeboesme.com\/pangrammatike\/tag\/poem\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":112,"url":"https:\/\/www.kayeboesme.com\/pangrammatike\/2018\/02\/03\/reflections-on-writing-in-2017\/","url_meta":{"origin":500,"position":4},"title":"Reflections on Writing in 2017","author":"kaye","date":"3 February 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Writing-wise, 2017 was an interesting year. This is the part where I talk about a variety of projects related to writing and constructed languages and what happened over last calendar year (and into January 2018). In 2017 (and January 2018 \u2014 I didn't finish editing a novella until midway through\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"writing\"","block_context":{"text":"writing","link":"https:\/\/www.kayeboesme.com\/pangrammatike\/tag\/writing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":571,"url":"https:\/\/www.kayeboesme.com\/pangrammatike\/2021\/01\/18\/ending-2020\/","url_meta":{"origin":500,"position":5},"title":"Ending 2020","author":"kaye","date":"18 January 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"2020 was a year. 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and my eyes drank deep of the sidewalk,
the hum of highway-bound cars,
a woman yelling out from her window
while music played below in the fancy
apartment buildings newly-minted downtown,
a surge of humans catching the last moments
before the sun descended and light fled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
texture and double-sealed firmness
passed on for the deciders, my mind turning
to Athene and the long road beyond
filled-in bubbles on a bright, firm sheet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n