Blue Carnegie

And what isn’t good
And what is, and what
Isn’t good and what is,

And how do you want
Your justice served you,
And what’s important

To show, to show you
The words are doing
Approvably, what

Ache, what crime, what song
Needs to be sung now
To feel your hopes break

Into bite-sized chunks
You chew thoughtfully
At the library

In the nondescript
Corner of the village
That only briefly

Was proud of having
Its own library
Open after dark?

Hope for More

They’re shy monsters.
In better times
They’re up like koi
Eager for food,

But in these hours
They’re ghostlier,
Barely ideas
Back of the cave.

They glide forward,
Wisps of phrases
That half cohere
Into outlines,

Mantic warnings.
When you notice,
They sink. You sink
And hope for more.