Seven Years. Good Luck.

SEVEN YEARS. GOOD LUCK.

Poems 2018–2025 · Josh S. Rose

Index (217)

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[01]7 Years. Good Luck.By some miracle we managed — I call it luck, some call it pain.Read →
[02]Job oneAnd don't fear the abyss. You want the abyss.Read →
[03]The fallYou wiped the bile from the bathroom while the kids slept.Read →
[04]Factory cookiesJust like motherboard used to make.Read →
[05]Distant thunderThe sound of distant thunder.Read →
[06]The divineA spontaneous eruption of exultation, rapture, ecstasy…Read →
[07]PiecesBut peace comes in pieces.Read →
[08]DrivenShe came to pray, she is the devotion.Read →
[09]LecceTruth is in a parent's whisper to their children.Read →
[10]EchoesAll rigid stones as echoes of the vanished.Read →
[11]Between worldsA pause where we both see each other between worlds.Read →
[12]The planSpend less, know less, want less.Read →
[13]IntermissionIf you paid the price of admission, that includes the dark.Read →
[14]The stageLet us take the stage, and show the night what we can do.Read →
[15]Time, LoveTime has a point. Love is squishy curved.Read →
[16]BrothersWould he have done what my sister couldn't.Read →
[17]SandWe forget more than we remember.Read →
[18]People moversIt's hard to be moved anymore.Read →
[19]On Photographing the QueenFind an interest in life before you lose your mind.Read →
[20]Mount EtnaHow to write a poem about fiery liquid that inches unstoppable devastation.Read →
[21]Then comes the morningThe dead aren't buried, they're gone.Read →
[22]Steals the heartSteals the heart. That's it.Read →
[23]AnchoredFFS, tell me where you've anchored.Read →
[24]FictionsThere is no truth in wine — someone drank it before I got here.Read →
[25]Four riversFor Rome may fall, but family quenches forever.Read →
[26]Rome is RomeFrom the dry hands of Michelangelo to the wet feet of Bernini.Read →
[27]Over thereThe tree didn't murder Ferdinand.Read →
[28]Dark roomWhen posting photographs comes with a lashing.Read →
[29]MilkWe don't care what you do in our country.Read →
[30]TransylvaniaHow deep a tree that sounds like water goes.Read →
[31]GraceI sit with the pain. I sit with the pain. I sit with the pain.Read →
[32]MirrorsWe teeter in our attempt to see ourselves — and we'd gladly fall.Read →
[33]The saltYou are animal. You are the salt.Read →
[34]Your morningIt's the comparisons, desires, attachments and judgment.Read →
[35]Leonard CohenWe gobble up the things that were intended to last.Read →
[36]Day tripAt least the past listens.Read →
[37]OlderWitheringly old. Anciently cursed. Bone dry.Read →
[38]The mountainWho will you serve up there?Read →
[39]QuailOnly ten thousand or so left.Read →
[40]SliverI am 99% the sweat of fear.Read →
[41]No brandIn truth, we are all only flying.Read →
[42]Then go swimmingGrow old, take a walk one day and don't return.Read →
[43]SplintersIn the end you don't leave. The splinters do.Read →
[44]Sing alongWe can walk out on an old life.Read →
[45]SpiralI'm warning you, I'm quick. I might take you!Read →
[46]The edgeThe edge is a sanctuary. Most will never go.Read →
[47]Carry the waterJust trying to carry the water.Read →
[48]That skyCan you fathom how lucky you are to be alive right now?Read →
[49]MadmanThat is like talking to yourself like a madman.Read →
[50]KnotsUntying stops time.Read →
[51]LostI am always lost. And you are not me.Read →
[52]The plan, againI made a plan today.Read →
[53]WholeIn a one-way train that ends in death, there are moments pure.Read →
[54]TimelessYou were born timeless.Read →
[55]Orange glowSushi was an extravagance best served on naked bodies with blow.Read →
[56]Curly hairYou have to swallow a lot of things you wish to vocalize.Read →
[57]PCHNo gurus here. No future.Read →
[58]Out of focusMeat and potatoes.Read →
[59]TalismanI don't know, I don't know, I don't know. And I'm free.Read →
[60]ChemistryThe jittery calm that becomes our waiting.Read →
[61]The houseThen you get to be a child again.Read →
[62]ReleasedAll night last night I dreamt of death.Read →
[63]CopingLife is better when you aren't trying to prove how good it is.Read →
[64]Not a manifestoAlone, naked, alive.Read →
[65]The swordI'll light a fire with the pages of my story.Read →
[66]RespiteLove is hard because empathy is painful.Read →
[67]AprilFamily? Those are one-to-one odds.Read →
[68]ConversationUntil camera becomes conversation.Read →
[69]Just so blueIt's just so blue.Read →
[70]Want lessWant less, be less restless.Read →
[71]DanceSome sing songs to lure good people to their death.Read →
[72]SensitivityAnd you, the dove that kills.Read →
[73]DiscussionThis is when things get bloody.Read →
[74]Cargo shipTo shed this excess salt.Read →
[75]CrazySometimes the sky is red and we don't care.Read →
[76]Santa AnaIn the dangerous path of flight, you can get swept away.Read →
[77]CriticsI'll die in the sunlight, while critics sleep full and cold.Read →
[78]WaiterSome people lead lives, I follow them.Read →
[79]More or lessMore love, more nature… but less time.Read →
[80]ButterflyYou are the untouchable beauty of endurance.Read →
[81]Wind advisoryYouth is the strongest of fabrics, but it tears easily.Read →
[82]Broken arrowsWhat of all the bent and broken arrows lost?Read →
[83]The tideThe math is not for the poets.Read →
[84]CrossroadsEvery day is a crossroads.Read →
[85]WeathermanI'M your weatherman now!Read →
[86]PermeateHow can we look at the oceans and not the blood of icebergs.Read →
[87]Grey blanketTime crawled back inside the clock.Read →
[88]AnotherAnother one, for one another.Read →
[89]ProselytizeWhen we have closed our eyes… we proselytize.Read →
[90]Tin cupTomorrow's cup is still full. Still waiting.Read →
[91]Desert stillnessTo whom it may concern…Read →
[92]UncoveredDown in the tired cove, something shines. A real memory.Read →
[93]StorytellersHolding maybe a little too tight to the baby.Read →
[94]Fell to earthI'm still here, in the imprint of my landing.Read →
[95]PathwaysEven if the blood is cold, even if the mark remains.Read →
[96]Fine dayNow I long for the destruction.Read →
[97]CoffeeThe real gift is coffee. The real pain is the pursuit of legacy.Read →
[98]ProcessOne moves, but is also moved.Read →
[99]Hand it overFind a shark and hear it out.Read →
[100]PatternsI see the space around you.Read →
[101]WhaleIt's hell down here.Read →
[102]ListeningI'm listening. Now you go.Read →
[103]PennilessBe inspired even if that means being poor.Read →
[104]Find each otherAnd the baby sleeps. And the wind is free.Read →
[105]BirthdayI wish that was all my days.Read →
[106]The holeIt will be between us for a hundred years.Read →
[107]DistancingEvery viewing after that is a lesson in decay.Read →
[108]Zoomed outI've only ever wanted you to fly.Read →
[109]Rocking chairIt felt like travel.Read →
[110]BannisterWhy are the letters still up on the bannister?Read →
[111]Day 14These are songs of isolation we take them by day.Read →
[112]BookshelfFloating and free among a few dozen novels.Read →
[113]Ode To NormalcyIf you really want poetry that sticks, get the magnets.Read →
[114]The mealI'll be here before you were born. Still eating. Long after.Read →
[115]ThirstyAren't we all in a desert?Read →
[116]GlassLiquid hardens for all of us, caught up in our garages.Read →
[117]HoneycombThe honeycomb design of eyesight through hindsight.Read →
[118]BlackbirdNow I'm the blackbird on the wire.Read →
[119]I Did It My WayI refuse to be alone.Read →
[120]Right hereI'm right here.Read →
[121]ProvidenceBefore we lumber toward the fire.Read →
[122]ClayWhat if I'm the crazy?Read →
[123]Mud and linesWild, wet and unformed.Read →
[124]I don't knowSaying I don't know a hundred times a day or so.Read →
[125]Lost architectureThe stories of lost architecture live securely in the past.Read →
[126]Snow on sandThere's a chill in me that won't forget.Read →
[127]FreefallLove with arms flailing.Read →
[128]CluesThe more concrete things just fall away from memory forever.Read →
[129]2019This whole thing has really got me thinking.Read →
[130]LightingOnly as successful as I am lucky to be alive.Read →
[131]Found itMaybe I shouldn't have called the police.Read →
[132]CensusWhat language do you speak?Read →
[133]TubesGod knows they never cared much on Earth.Read →
[134]Open mindThoughts from an open mind.Read →
[135]Make themThey call to you like a scream in the distance.Read →
[136]Golden spearThe spiritual path is marked by loss not gain.Read →
[137]MerismIt is not sin we have to fear but stupidity.Read →
[138]Quiet gardenI, too, am all for a smarter, quieter garden.Read →
[139]ExhaustedDon't be tired, be exhausted!Read →
[140]Licorice ropesSuccess is not the best revenge. It's just a cup of coffee.Read →
[141]Small houseI still cannot cross it in dreams to reach her.Read →
[142]LighterToday I will be lighter than yesterday.Read →
[143]DenverIn the moments before lifting off.Read →
[144]PackingIt's one thing to dream, another to pack.Read →
[145]StudyThe best works are always a study.Read →
[146]MapleNow you're a tree. Crazy right?Read →
[147]Showing offThe beautiful sculpture we imagine ourselves becoming has already aged badly.Read →
[148]PretzelsEverything will be ok.Read →
[149]Outer spaceBecause love matters in space.Read →
[150]EntryWe do not enter alone.Read →
[151]Time itJump!Read →
[152]MilkshakeNevermind, we'll have the milkshake.Read →
[153]BragI'm brag to the bone!Read →
[154]SquirrelTry to breathe the sun into the sky.Read →
[155]AnnouncementPainting portraits of passers by in the style of the Impressionists.Read →
[156]First lightNot survival of the fittest, but survival of the nurtured.Read →
[157]Once uponEmerge once upon a different time.Read →
[158]SeptemberNot falling, flying.Read →
[159]Stuffed bearHold it like a stuffed bear. Tightly. Very very tightly.Read →
[160]TelltalesWhat if it rained like this forever..Read →
[161]FlailAccused of not having belonged on an out of control earth.Read →
[162]Another timeWondering when will be my time.Read →
[163]Promo codeEverything is limited.Read →
[164]RainsThe noise and wet were replaced with a quiet end.Read →
[165]Tides and currentsDance the best you can there, broken bones and all.Read →
[166]ColumnAll I see is the stone column in the middle.Read →
[167]ReceptionUshered to the ballroom for the night's entertainment.Read →
[168]Shanghai cracksThere lived a bit of life in the cracks.Read →
[169]Let's driveThen we can all be born.Read →
[170]Whale's heartI am only eyeballs and thin skin with a whale's heart in the dark.Read →
[171]The pagesOur memories are memories of memories.Read →
[172]FijiI don't know where it is anymore.Read →
[173]ForgetEventually the memory is of forgetting.Read →
[174]Wet sandKnowing at any minute it could all wash away.Read →
[175]The burgerDon't forget how good that bread is either.Read →
[176]SpineWhere your mother holds you. Womblike.Read →
[177]ExhaustionTo die completely exhausted.Read →
[178]TunnelJust gathering, constantly gathering.Read →
[179]PrisonFreedom is your passion applied in all directions.Read →
[180]Night paradeBe a love and fly away.Read →
[181]TentsThe core of homelessness is the lack of game pieces.Read →
[182]OutliveMay we all outlive our past.Read →
[183]Rabbit holeThe rabbit hole goes up.Read →
[184]StaySo stay?Read →
[185]SituationWhat do you do?Read →
[186]HeartbeatMy eyes are ocean water, heart pounding.Read →
[187]Hold meHold me, help me, show me, know me.Read →
[188]DimpleBent and curved to fit it in.Read →
[189]House our loveI will house our love.Read →
[190]MotherNow I'm Josh who?Read →
[191]Nine lives9 is the heat from a parked car — you ask to come home.Read →
[192]Spring trainingWe've already won, boys. We've already won.Read →
[193]HomeThe sun is not forever.Read →
[194]TogetherI believe the best we can do is do together.Read →
[195]Sand castlesThat is the sand of the castle eroding in you.Read →
[196]BlanknessI was a lamb with an extra long time in the womb.Read →
[197]BraveYou only need to survive to have my love.Read →
[198]The windowI've learned to love the window.Read →
[199]MorningsWhere I am the mornings are quiet.Read →
[200]Self-portraitsTry a portrait in Poland.Read →
[201]The gongIn one giant, final, breathing — out.Read →
[202]Step oneRealize you've always been on step one.Read →
[203]Beautiful gameYou were so relaxed, relatable before you ran off.Read →
[204]BoxesOne destroys hoaxes and the other checks boxes.Read →
[205]TranscendenceTranscendence is a promise we put off til after we make a buck.Read →
[206]Snake bloodHonestly, you couldn't have missed her.Read →
[207]StrainedLet stand for hours. Days. Years. Forget it.Read →
[208]SquaresToday I feel like maybe that tide is shifting.Read →
[209]Rain keeps fallingWe need this water, but even more we need you.Read →
[210]GaribaldiAwait my orders.Read →
[211]VirginiasIt makes you drunk on west coast summers.Read →
[212]Honey bearAnd I usually blank out.Read →
[213]JosefinaLearns to fight.Read →
[214]ApocalypseMother's love comes in tablets.Read →
[215]TomorrowFuture episode.Read →
[216]Back of the houseBut man it's been murder on the back.Read →
[217]Leap of faithOur short journey can feel like flying nonetheless.Read →

For Hajnal, who stood by so calmly.