A

As if the zither wouldn’t quiver

As if the zither wouldn’t quiver
Vibrate its song
The reconciliation between various components of the family
The doubtful connection
Between the kiss of association
And love
The drum double drumming
Of a partially heartfelt belief in hearth and country
Which will one day catastrophe thee into
The unimportance of all that you’ve been told
To try to control your impulses
In ways that they
Desire
Limited time offer
Life
And the subsequent malaise that death brings
If you’re inconsequential in your effects
That rapid pace of your heartbeat
Over the years
That damped you down while challenging
To the demands of being human
A representative an iota
A building block of what may come
The dust the dust is calling
From when you’re ill met by the womb
And the moonless night
The daggers of childhood
The success of youth
And the cancer thereafter
As the decades crowd in on you
Each with its own challenges
Unexpected unobserved
Til the future dashed in with explanations
Too late to heed
Or be of worth
Beyond the immediate
Median
Of comparative slumber
In your bunker
Bed
Grave

***

Photo by Cody Board on Unsplash

Josef Krebs

Josef Krebs has a chapbook published by Etched Press and his poetry also appears in Agenda, The Bangalore Review, the Bicycle Review, Calliope, Mouse Tales Press, The Corner Club Press, The FictionWeek Literary Review, Burningword Literary Journal, the Aurorean, Inscape, Crack the Spine, The Cape Rock, Carcinogenic Poetry, 521magazine, Organs of Vision and Speech, Tacenda, Former People, The Chaffey Review, The Bohemian, Grey Sparrow Journal, and The Cats Meow. A short story has been published in blazeVOX. He’s written three novels and five screenplays. His film was successfully screened at Santa Cruz and Short Film Corner of Cannes film festivals.