what is your poetry like now

what is your poetry like now

so many decades after

those poems you shared

is the kind of question

that gets answered like this

late after an inspiring event

safe at home alone

while dangerously wishing

that that weren’t so

today’s poems are pins

in the moments that rustle

with poignantly aligned

juxtaposed layers

such as a display of lights

on a dark back patio

ratcheting into new patterns

that rival the magic hour highlights

swathed across the tops

of downtown buildings

and along the bottoms

of summertime clouds

or the stepping-into-the-breach

everyday generosity friends

extend to one another

that puts to shame

the high aspirations

we assign to society

in abstract justice discussions

or of course also the impassioned

assertive person whose face

held my attention all night

more than the people

everyone had paid to see

perform on stage

stick now this

layer to that

with the pressure

of this poem

to collage

all I experience

within a frame

someone else can hang

wherever they choose