by JOSEPH GESKEY
Lives in Appalachia,
writes a daily two-line
erasure poem, everything
blackened out by coal
except his two eyes.
Lives in the Great Plains,
wheat sold above subsistence
level this season, saves
a few hundred stems, wraps
a blue satin ribbon around them
bought from a local fabric store,
displaying them on a mantel
just like she saw in a design
created in a Paris flower shop.
Lives on the coast of Maine,
filling lobster traps with herring
or pogy, hoping to create
a scent plume in the blue-black,
pre-dawn sea, earning the same
percentage of an expensive meal
as a church tithe.
Is standing at an intersection
off an interstate in Columbus, Ohio,
Twelve inches of white snow
against a blue sky, holding a sign,
“Anything helps.” How many hours
will he need to stand before
collecting enough money to buy
a cup of coffee in a warm store,
asking for it to be extra hot,
and linger a few minutes longer?
–
Joseph Geskey lives outside Columbus, Ohio. His second book of poetry, Vigil, was published in 2026 by Broken Tribe Press. Individual poems have appeared in Verse Daily, Tar River Poetry, Poetry East, The Dodge, and many others. Please visit josephgeskey.com for further information.
© Joseph Geskey
Halfway Down the Stairs 