Mark Danowsky


How I Try

I can only be
                              		in so many places at once

This of course includes
                              		so many versions of the past

I make dinner 
                              		before noon
                                             			for two households
                              		wanting to share
                                             			my love

I wish I was less
                              		limited by my own [de]vices

Making the best
                              		of a horrific situation
		
                              		I know
                                             			is something
                                                            				I know



We Miss The Virus We Know
  
We broke America
Not just the internet
Not this time
 
After just 244 years
Which is not that long  
Any historian will tell you
We are Bad Rome
 
Ok, a historian will not say
“Bad Rome”
Just the reference librarian
I grew up with
Like a brother
 
Victorian, fin de siècle
Fashion met death  
Chic to appear ill
 
Before heroin
Before crack
Before fentanyl
 
We ruin ourselves
If we are not ourselves ruined
Signed capitalism run amok
Crossing the t’s, dotting the i’s
 
I’m scared and I’m white
And I’m not the only person
To think or say that
 
I’m trying to say I’m sorry
To Gen Z, To Gen Alpha 
Who I have had such faith in
 
I’m trying to say I want more
Chances for meaningful experiences
Without the dread
For all those I have locked eyes with
As well as those I will not
Have a chance to know
 
I tell myself again
I’m ready
Be done
Lone wolfing it
 
I want to leave
When there is something better
On the horizon
Beyond death




Mark Danowsky is a Philadelphia poet, author of the poetry collection As Falls Trees (NightBallet Press), 
Editor of ONE ART: A Journal of Poetry, and Senior Editor at Schuylkill Valley Journal.
 
 

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