No longer

An acceptable response no longer:

Torpor has been struck from the catalog

Grocery stores are cleared of decaf coffee—

They want us to stay awake at this time

The climes call us outside—

Planting season in the Northern hemisphere and crisp Autumn in the South

As for that Roku

It should be put into its own torpor every once in a while

I feel that I’m waiting in a dusk-decked vestibule

As if for the gates of the locks to open—for a

Gust of spirit that channels the suppressed joys of the nations

I am waiting for time capsules to open

For their contents to start up a chant

This poem was published in issue VIII of the Heron Clan anthology.

Andy Oram
May 10, 2020