The Sanctity of Lists by KJ Hannah Greenberg

The Sanctity of Lists

KJ Hannah Greenberg

The sanctity of lists, declared in infinite teenage wisdom,
When wise ones assimilated, or, on account of human
Complexity and growth, raised dead from charnel houses,
Weighs fibbing against chocolates, lauds haver.

Most nonsense evolves, it's alleged, to ward off bankruptcy.
Partnerships between disenfranchised fish and neglected birds
Bear witness to such trash as to judder the most grounded
Peristaltic movements back to soliloquies spun during war.

Incidental characters, after all, among poor choices,
Continue to celebrate life from joint to joven.
Their breathe situated betwixt drams, puffs, fey dust,
Strings of pearls, bijoux, ceramic beads, plus balderdash.

If ever transversing an eigenstate, escort all palaver off the docket.
Proceedings in lawsuits concerning low brows strafing airways,
Collecting murder weapons, valuing orpiment, result in the total
Loss of personal rehabilitation, the creation of more Russian Mafiosi.

Ordinary, unremitting testimonies recall, to mind, that doctor-gardeners,
Esca, whales, parrots, corvids, grieve at escaped moments of loving kindness.
No plinth can possible support the hate of denizens mouthing rural platitudes.
Dingers reflecting on tawdry, unsung networks of siblings, corrupt cousins.

Clerical canticles, matins, couplets, similarly inharmonic, lack power
Enough to offset racial hatred, domestic abuse. Gawping like babies.
Most ancient settlers closed themselves, rejected gilded virtues, become
Contentious within the confines of their spans' normal ramifications.

In doubting the veracity of troublesome reports, or light loose trousers,
Insisting on playing camera obscura games with the media, we, on balance,
Folks running to medically assist victims of terrorist bus bombings,
Daily rekindle devotion while making websites' worth of jaded comments.

KJ Hannah Greenberg's newest books include: Jerusalem Sunrise (Imago Press, 2014, Forthcoming), The Little Temple of My Sleeping Bag (Dancing Girl Press, 2014, Forthcoming), Simple Gratitudes (Propertius Press, 2014, Forthcoming), The Immediacy of Emotional Kerfuffles (Bards and Sages Publishing, 2013), and Citrus-Inspired Ceramics (Aldrich Press, 2013).

ISSUE TWO: Sly Early Stem | next poem →