it’s cold and rainy outside, too
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7 April 2023
Charlottesville VA
Jason Crane Posts
today I watched a bee
generate enough breeze
to move little clumps of dirt
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6 April 2023
Charlottesville VA
“Phil Collins On The Rocks”
I kept ordering it at bar after bar,
giving each bartender an incredulous look
when they told me they’d never heard
of a “Phil Collins.”
“No Jacket Required?” I’d ask.
“Face Value? Hello I Must Be Going?”
Then I’d ask for a Shirley Bassey.
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5 April 2023
Charlottesville VA
all day long in the vice grip
â one word from a friend â
the night air is warm on my skin
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4 April 2023
Charlottesville VA
The Age I Am Now
It’s the nickname for people who rushed west
in search of gold but really fleeing
from the horror that all the days to come
would be like all the days behind,
hoping instead that the rivers ran with possibility
that could be dragged glittering into the sun.
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3 April 2023
Charlottesville VA
last night in the van
where it’s not my choice
(podcasts in the dark)
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2 April 2023
Charlottesville VA
the lights go out
dragging the comedian
down to our level
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1 April 2023
Charlottesville VA
I Think I’ve Given Up On Scally Caps For Now
As I sit in the grocery store cafe listening
to Berlioz and glancing up at the ballgame,
I look at the guy across from me and realize
I’m not ready to go gentle into that good cap.
I recently buzzed the sides of my head but
left the top long, trying before the odometer
ticks over to the half-century mark to find
someone a little more interesting to look like.
Now the guy in the scally cap has taken out
a notepad and a pen and he’s writing and
come ON dude I’m trying to differentiate us
and you’re really not helping. Some people.
Anyway I’m a few days away from the end
of van life, although given my general aptitude
for long-term strategy and the fact that
my retirement plan is death, I bet I’ll be back
on the road one of these days, trying again
to outrun the inevitable and probably failing.
For now though I’ve got a one-year lease and
a two-week-old job and at some point I’ll buy
a bed and once I do I’ll finally be a real boy.
Seems like all the guys in this cafe know
one another except me and maybe the scally guy.
They’re eating chips and pizza slices and
drinking diet sodas and talking about their kids
or thumbing through bibles and the ballgame
is tied in the bottom of the seventh
and after this I’ll probably scroll through TikTok
because I’m so. damn. young. y’all.
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30 March 2023
Charlottesville VA
I Just Rewatched The Episode In Which Kanan Jarrus Dies
The first time I watched it was with you.
He dies in a big explosion at a fuel depot.
I didn’t realize at the time it was a metaphor.
Other than my parents I think you’ve caused
the most damage. Well, maybe other than my parents
and me, of course. Two and a half years later,
I’m waiting for the flames to die down.
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26 March 2023
Charlottesville VA
A Room Of One’s Own
In the cartoon,
the boy wakes up
in his berth
on a spaceship
surrounded by friends.
The image
is one of distress
in the context
of the story
but it looks like
heaven to me.
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25 March 2023
Charlottesville VA
Safety
Surfacing from sleep,
I felt your arms around me.
For the first time in days,
my whole body relaxed.
I awoke, alone,
on a camp cot in a minivan.
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22 March 2023
Charlottesville VA
Parked.
“No parking.”
Park!
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21 March 2023
Charlottesville VA
23
This is a poem
inspired by an album
inspired by twenty-three paintings.
This is a stanza in a poem
inspired by an album
inspired by twenty-three paintings.
This
is a word in a stanza in a poem
inspired by an album
inspired by twenty-three paintings.
Tâ
his is a letter in a word
in a stanza in a poem
inspired by an album
inspired by twenty-three paintings.
is the absence of a word
in a stanza in a poem
inspired by an album
inspired by twenty-three paintings.
*
up in the sky
we make the stars
make pictures
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14 March 2023
State College PA
“We got to the top but we didn’t see anything.”
It feels like a put-on.
Is it a put-on?
Excited?
Ambivalent.
An early 20th century coinage.
Following the pattern of
“equivalent.”
It’s a choice like any other.
The next step.
That’s all.
Sometimes you spend too long
climbing a hill and when you
reach the summit
the whole damn thing
is covered in clouds.
No views at all.
“Valency counts all arguments,
including the subject.”
That’s what I mean.
Take it all into consideration.
Stop making plans
for what follows.
What follows is too far away.
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13 March 2023
State College PA
Progress
I used to be sad
at night
but now I’m sad
in the morning.
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10 March 2023
State College PA